Jason in the Ghost-Zone
by Shauds02
Summary: In another world Jason Peter Todd woke up screaming in his coffin. In this one the force of the blast was enough to send him somewhere else. COMPLETE. Fixed up some formatting issues. Sequel up.
1. Chapter 1

**I just fixed some typos**

 **,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,**

It hurt. He couldn't have told anyone much more about it, other than that it really, really hurt. Everything was an overwhelming tumble of pain, and blood, and betrayal, and all the hope he'd been holding on to so tightly was ripped from his broken fists before he could blink.

Then it hurt even more in a burst of light and heat that lasted less than a second but felt like an hour. The worst part, he decided, as he gave in to the inevitability of it all, was that he could hear the roaring of an engine that, a few minutes ago would have been his salvation. He took a fraction of a breath in the time he had left and decided that it didn't matter. The moment he accepted his fate it was over.

,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,'

Swirly.

He blinked.

Green.

Another blink.

Swirly green clouds.

Really...

He wasn't impressed, he remembered little besides the pain, but for some reason he held onto a strange sense of belief that something else was supposed to be here.

He waited.

He blinked again, and again and a few more times, every time expecting his eyes to feed him new information when they opened.

He waited some more. He lifted a gloved hand to scratch his head. Something stopped him, a cloth barrier, bells.

Oh well.

Wait bells!

He pulled the offending thing off.

It was black, white and tipped with bells on all four points. A jesters hat. Jesters, fools. Thinking hurt. It seemed significant but he wasn't sure why.

He pictured what his fragmented mind had stored of a jester. The colourful image didn't fit with the black and white he found himself wearing. The picture distorted into that of a clown. Laughter filled his ears. Dark, evil.

He threw the hat away from him, watching it tumble across the small floating island he sat on. It tipped over the edge and fell until he couldn't hear the bells anymore.

He gazed at the swirly greeniness of the cloud for a measure of time he didn't count.

There was someone, somewhere, he was certain would scold him if he didn't pay attention. He didn't care. He lay down arms crossed behind his head. He frowned.

The hat was back.

He laughed.

But he still wasn't impressed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

It was another unknowable time of day -  
or night whatever- in the world of green swirlyness, as Jason had taken to calling the timeless world of swirly green clouds and floating islands that was all he could remember ( his hat chimed as if to disagree so he threw it over the islands edge once more).  
He had no idea how long he'd been in this place that felt strange yet somehow familiar at the same time. A lot of time must have passed though, he was sure,  
and still ge hadn't been able to get rid of it. The bane of his short existance,  
the black hole that sucked joy from every pore in his body, the monstrosity on his head that by its freaking ear piercing jingling denied everything he knew to be true. 'No Jason, your existance couldn't have been that short.  
Jason, you can tell you don't have pores. I'm not black hole Jason I'm two toned. And the worst, the absolute worst of all, Jesters I'm a hat, thinking I have any kind of awareness makes you crazy'.  
" I'm not crazy", he said aloud, just to hear the voice of the one person he decided was completely sane. None of the people he'd had the chance to speak to deserved a clean bill of mental health.  
He sighed.  
The hat was back again.  
Trying to get rid of the abominable thing had been his mission as soon as he'd finished laughing like an acrobat - he wasn't sure where the analogy came from but it felt right.  
He'd throw it over the edge a few times but it always came right back, so he'd resorted to more strenuous means.  
Means that involved more than just lifting his arm, tipping forward, and watching as the thing grew in to a black and white speck in the distance, the tinkling of his bells fading away into nothingness...  
Only to reapear as soon as it was out of sight, right atop his head with a vindictive chiming.  
He'd lost count of how many times he'd attempted that simple tactic before he gave it up as hopeless.  
After scratching at the ground proved it too hard and unyeilding yo scrape up a hole large enough that the hat could be buried without tools he peered over the edge to take in his surroundings. In every direction were more floating islands, floating doors - something he made sure to pretend wasn't creepy -  
and ofcourse more green swirlyness as far as the eye could see.  
Not too far below him was an island that immediately caught his sharp eye.  
It was forested. Forests meant sticks and possibly soft, loamy soil, both of which would make his task doable. He carefully made his way over the edge.  
... Danny Fenton was tired. He'd admit to that much, but only when he was Danny Fenton. He was tired of lying to his family. Tired of dangerous inventions acting out around him. Tired of his friends nagging him to rest Mostly he was tired of being awake.  
Unfortunately these were all Danny Fentons probelms. Danny Fenton could afford to be tired of everything and anything he wanted whenever he wanted,  
as long as it was only Dannny Fenton who worried about it. Danny Phantom,  
however didn't have the luxury of indulging in exhaustion. Danny Phantom had to stay on gaurd constantly. As Danny Phantom he could be attacked at any time. This had been the norm for two years now. Two years of fighting to keep the people of Amity safe from creatures he wouldn't know to harm it if not for the stupid portal in his stupid basement. The stupid portal that neither Fenton nor Phantom were usually stupid enough to be careless around. He'd just been so... not tired definitely not tired,  
bur maybe overwelmed by all the work he'd had lately. Fenton had been swamped by school assignments he hadn't been able to work on before because Phantom had been needed for a string of attacks, one after another.  
Stupid ghosts. He'd found out that he'd be made to reapeat the year if he didn't hand in his assignments on time, when Fentons troubles had to take a backseat to Phantoms yet again. Stupid box ghost.  
It was a little hard to come to remember exactly how it had happened. He wasn't sure if it was because he'd been too overwelmed to pay much attention, or because he'd have died of embarrassment if he remembered enough about a fight in wich he'd been overwelmed by the BOX GHOST!  
Stuck floating around the ghost zone inside the stupid Fenton thermos was enough to worry about as it was. He knew most other times he'd have been more worried about being trapped with very little chance of escape, but his thoughts kept wandering off to how appealing the idea of a nap was just then.  
So he busied his mind with thoughts of how stupid the world was. It was better than thinking about how hopeless his situation really was. The chances of his friends knowing what had happened to him were slim. It'd take them a while to find and free him once they had.  
He wasn't woried about never being freed. They did have the booomerang after all. They'd definitely find him. What made the situation hopeless was that they wouldn't find him soon enough for him to complete his stupid homework.  
He'd have to repeat the year. It seemed such a trivial thing compared to what else he was facing, but thinking about it made him want to sob. Heroes didn't cry. Heroes didn't get tired.  
So dwelling on thoughts of either school or napping was unacceptable.  
For a while he toyed with the idea of one of his enemies releasing him, if he were capable of making a sound he would have laughed. He amused himself by imaging himself being freed by Skulker. The hunter would open the thermos thinking he was helping a fellow ghost and out would pop his prey.  
In truth Dannny doubted the squishy blob of a ghost would take so much as the time it took to unscrew a lid to help a fellow ghost at all.  
Having nothing less depressing to do he returned to his previous line of thought.  
He was so engrossed in his mental tirade of the world's stupidity that it took him a few moments to notice he was free.  
And on Skulkers island.  
A quick scan brought him some peice of mind with the knowledge that, at least for now his pelt was safe. Peice of mind that was short lived when he took note of a ghost looking standing right in front of him.  
Next to the new ghost was a patch of soil freshly disturbed, a tip of bell-  
topped fabric poking out.  
He blinked and the tip was gone, the ghost now with a black and white jesters cap on his head. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 1

Hey I noticed I got some reviews on this, thought I'd let you know that I have no idea how to reply on this site. You can find the more updated version on ao3, my username is shauds, I can awnser any questions there. The rest of the story will eventually get to if you prefer reading here. That being said, enjoy.  
...

The boy was dressed like the joker usually looked on a pack of cards. The dusty hat had four points, two black and two white, each with a siver bell making them droop. The hair that was visible falling across his fore-head was snowy white. His eyes an eerie red that contrasted sharply with his otherwise colourless appearance. His long sleeved tunic was checkered in black and white,  
a stylized J displayed proudly on his left breast. Black trousers and white pixie boots completed the outfit.  
They stood for a while, each too shocked to do anything but stare at each other after the joker ghosts comment.  
The ghost didn't seem bothered by the tension that built between them. He gazed at Dannny cooly with eyes that were too much like Vlads to be anything but creepy.  
The halfa did his best to keep eye contact even if the ghost didn't loo hostile he could have been seconds from lashing out. He'd seen such behaviour from ghost much more innocent looking than the one that stood in front of him.  
Still the tension built. Danny shifted his weight from one foot to another.  
"So...", he said awkwardly.  
"Well", the ghost responded.  
"Well what?", Danny tried to sound firm,  
standing straight and pushing out his chest.  
The ghost sharply raised one eyebrow and shook the Fenton thermos, never once taking his eyes of the confused halfa. Danny slowly pooled energy into his palms ready for an attack.  
"Where's the soup?".  
The energy he'd gathered in his hands sputtered out and the only response his disorientated mind could come up with was a half choking sound that should never have come from the mouth of any half respectable super hero. He was mortified to be seen in such a state by a ghost that didn't seem much smarter than the Box Ghost. The stupid Box Ghost that had managed to stick him in the thermos in the first place.  
The ghosts face scrunched up briefly before his gaze shifted to some point behind the flustered halfa. He pursed his lips and studied the thermos.  
" How did you fit inside this thing? ", he muttered, peeking inside it and rolling it around in his hand. The ghost shot a brief glance at Dannny before sniffing the liď.  
"And where's the soup?".  
"Uhh...", Danny rubbed the back of his neck. Had he stumbled into a clown ghost with a soup obsession, weird."  
There isn't any".  
"Then why do I smell it", the ghost stepped closer. Really stepped, as in with his pixie toed feet, not floating an inch of the ground towards the halfa.  
Danny was so taken by this that at first he didn't really register the ghosts question. That was, ofcourse until it's red eyes were right in front of his and glowing a fraction more brightly.  
The ghost thrust the thermos under Dannys nose. "Smell", was the half growled command.  
The halfa knocked the thermos away leaped back to put some distance between them.  
" There isn't any soup here Joker, why don...", he'd meant to tell the ghost to look somewhere else for soup, but before he could finish the ghost flew into action. Well not really flew as he stayed on the ground as he tackled Danny to the damp ground, pinning the halfas hands above his head and drawing back a fist.  
The hero twisted, using all his strength to unbalance the ghost so. Throwing the clown to the side he scrambled back.  
He barely had time to get to his feet before the ghost was on him again.  
This he could deal with. Violent ghosts were much easier to handle than confused ones looking for soup. Said ghost swung a kick at Dannys chest not. He dodged but the ghost didn't even pause, using his momentum to spin around adding force to a punch that hit Dannny square on the jaw. The punch hurt, but it was the follow up elbow to the gut that kept him from getting up right away.  
He managed to grab the foot that came down at his chest and tugged it towards him, tripping the ghost. He lifted himself the air to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him.  
"You're gonna pay for that! ", he yelled firing off his green ecto blasts in the ghosts direction.

The fury that filled him didn't come from any logical source. Part of him was bothered by his irrational anger. But that was the same part that drew his attention to vague memories, voices whispering on the barest level of his consciousness.  
'Too violent'  
'No good'  
'Tea.. you a ..esso.. follow .. ootsteps"  
He didn't like that part of him, so he decided to ignore it and and destroy the stupid kid who had the nerve to in any way link him to that that that...  
It didn't matter why joker was such a displeasing thing to be called. What mattered was tha the boy had dared do it.  
'How dare he'  
He dodged a glowing green ball.  
'How dare he'  
He dodged another.  
'HOW FREAKING DARE HE'  
And another, and another, and another.  
"How dare you! ", he yelled at the boy who was smirking and floating, freaking FLOATING above him. The hat jingled when he charged for one of the trees,  
making his way quickly to one of the higher branches and launching himself at his opponent.  
His attack never landed.  
It was as he lay crumpled on the ground that he heard the laughter. Too deep to be coming from the green eyed boy. He blew his hair out of his eyes to glare at the new arrival and nearly choked on the dirt his resulting gasp drew down his throat.  
A glowing, metal covered, flame headed,  
floating... thing.  
Seriously was everything in this place glowy, floaty, and green? He knew just by looking at it that it wasn't human, no way was it human. And it was pointing a big gun like thing at the green eyed boy he'd been fighting.  
All of these things put together left a not too pleasant taste in his mouth, the thing seemed familiar. Not like he'd seen it before, but more like he'd seen someone, or something really similar.  
The worst part was that it was undeniably, irredeemably ugly. He pushed all thoughts of familiarity out of his mind and settled for that as being the cause of the aforementioned bad taste.  
He was broken out of his cataloguing of all things ugly about the thing -hair,  
eyes, mouth, style, everything else-  
when he noticed talking to Soup-  
boy.  
"Heh, Soup-boy", he chuckled, pleased with the term of reference.  
"... didn't think you'd be stupid enough to come here Welp", was saying.  
"Not my choice Skulker, I could alway do with some more time away from the ugly face I'd have to look at if I broke apart your suit 't you see I'm busy now?", Welp gestured vaguely in the other boys direction.  
It was really too bad he had an official name now 'Soup-boy' had only just been coined, and sounded better than 'Welp',  
but whatever... 'Skulker' didn't suit the metal guy as well as either, that was even harder than letting go of 'Soup-boy'.  
"I think I'll stick with ' ", he muttered to himself. He wasn't given time to fully settle into this decision before he was thrown back by the force of something slamming into his chest.  
He sat up coughing and searching for the culprit. His eyes settled on whose big gun thing still had wisps of smoke floating up from its nozzle.  
"What the hell!", he yelled.  
"So new he still breaths", the ugly bastards smug, ugly mouth laughed."Not worth the time of even you". It said to Welp, completely ignoring the victim of its ugly, freaking gun.  
The thought gave him pause. Victim, he wasn't a victim, he would never be a victim no matter what snips of fire and metal and clowns told him.  
"Hey", he called out to it, "you ugly freaking peice of filth!". Still it ignored him in favour of saying something about taking the other guys pelt - disgusting.  
Welps attention was focused fully on Ugly-bastards disgusting monologue.  
'It would have been so much easier to beat it into the ground if it wasn't so far above", it the gravity bound boy let out a low growl. He hated being underestimated, and he knew he'd always hated it.  
He eyed his surroundings, knowing there had to be a way to get at them.  
Climbing the trees again only received a token consideration, he was surprised he wasn't bleeding. There didnt seem to be many ways of reaching the two who had started launching glowing things at each other.  
" I need a grapple", he grumbled to himself.  
He scanned the area around him again.  
His eyes lit up with the smirk that twisted his mouth.

Skulker was just another bad factor in what was shaping up to be one of the worst days in Dannys life. First the Box-  
ghost gets the jump on him with the thermos of all things, then he gets attacked by a newly formed clown ghost. He really should have been paying more attention to where he was.  
Messing around near Skulkers island was something he would never purposely do, ever. If he had known where he was, and that the ghost couldn't fly he would have been long gone by the time Skulker got there.  
Now it was too late to get away, being in the thermos had messed with Dannys powers and disorientated him. He couldn't focus properly on Skulker and knowing there was another hostile ghost nearby wasn't helping at all.  
It was all he could do to dodge the blasts that came his way and try firing off a few of his own. He was tempted to use the trees for cover but didn't want to risk any surprises hidden beneath there foliage. The other ghost, while unable to fly, hit hard and had come at him fast, never mind the islands usual inhabitants.  
Danny twisted to avoid another of Skulkers blasts. Turning he found the ghost had disappeared from his line of sight. Before he could find him again he heard a whirring sound behind him. He didn't turn around in time to stop the blast to the back of his head that made colours burst to life before his eyes and sent him tumbling from the air. Skulkers aim had improved, either that or he'd gotten lucky. Whatever the case, the halfa was going down -literally.  
He slammed into the damp ground of the island below and couldn't bring himself to get back up. The most he could do was slip open one bĺarey eye to watch his end approaching. Skulker took his time floating towards his prey. He landed nearby and calmly walked over to where Dannny lay.  
"Anything to say, Welp?", the Ghost-  
zones greatest hunter smiled.  
Danny stared up the muzzle of Skulkers weapon, gathering up his wits for one final witty remark when said weapon was torn out of his line of sight.  
Replaced by a pair of curley toed shoes.  
Before he could process this information they were gone.  
He shifted his eyes to take in the sight of Skulker being pummelled by the new ghost, with something on a string...  
'Is that the thermos? '. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 1

"Damn ugly thing!", the younger ghost was screaming at Skulker, using words that, even at 15 Danny wasn't comfortable repeating, not even in his head. His head that was pounding in complaint at the effort it took to sit up and examine the sight before him.  
This new ghost, this weird, red eyed ghost so new he didn't even know how to fly yet, was beating Skulker with a tied to a rope of braided vines. Even as he cursed like a sailor, the image in front of him was beautiful. He watched as the ghost spun the thermos above his head and swung it to wrap around Skulkers leg, yanking the ghost to the ground.  
He kicked, and punched, and kicked like he'd somersaulted right out of an action movie... and he'd just done a somersault. It was so much easier to take note of this when he wasn't on the receiving end of that round house kick.  
" Now", the clown-ghost said in a low,  
dangerous voice while gazing right into Skulkers eyes. .. welĺ Skulkers suits eyes," what was that you said about me and time? ".  
Skulker growled, "Child, you have a lot to learn." With that the hunter kicked the clown in his face, freeing his leg and taking off. He eyed the new ghost from just high enough to be out of reach. The clown went for the thermos, but Skulker shot it away into the forest. The bigger stronger ghost continued shooting at the other, who somehow managed to last, even from the ground, longer than Danny had in the air.  
True the halfa had been tired and messed up -now even more so- but this other ghost didn't even seem to know he had ghost powers.  
The clown-ghost did last longer, but he was still at a severe disadvantage.  
Skulker was bigger, armed, stronger, and could fly. The clowns anger was wearing off, and with it the temporary boost it had given him.  
One of the hunters blasts hit him, unable to dodge after that, the boy was hit over and over again, covering the air around him in dust. Danny waited half a minute for the young ghost to get up, when that didn't happen the halfa forced himself to his feet. True the clown-ghost had attacked him not to long ago, but without the other boy he would have been Skulkers new pelt.  
If the clown didn't get up soon Skulker would come for the halfa anyway. Danny knew there wasn't any way he could defend himself if that happened.  
The dust cleared away, revealing the monochromatic form of the clown-ghost,  
laying sprawled on the ground and breathing heavily. Seeing a ghost breathing was strange, stranger were the green streaks at the corners of his mouth , and the cut atop one eye,  
leaking more of the same fluid over the sensitive organ, keeping him from opening it. It made the ghost seem alive,  
human even. There was no way a hero could turn away from someone so helpless, not even a ghost.

The ugly thing picked him up by his checkered tunic with a frown. 'Ugh how embarrassing', the boy berated himself.  
At least uglys breath didn't stink.  
"Overconfidence is an uncommon trait in the newly formed", it said, " most know instinctively to stay away from those older and stronger than themselves".  
The boy turned his head away. Damn his body hurt his whole body. If his throat were able of producing anything other than a sick, rasping sound he'd have said something about the oldness of the thing holding him.  
'Hope I didn't puncture a lung,' he coughed, 'again,.  
It was studying him now, with its freaking ugly, beady eyes.  
"What the hell are you looking at," he tried to say. Even he couldn't really make out the sounds that came out.  
Ugly-bastard laughed again. The boy grit his teeth and twisted, striking out with his legs he managed a kick to its groin.  
It didn't even flinch, but continued laughing.  
'Yep, definitely not human,' he made a note of that information incase there was a future it could come in handy for.  
He tried to wriggle out of its grip only to be rewarded with more laughter.  
'At least it's not creepy', he though and gamely ignored snippets of a truly terrifying laugh.  
He was lifted higher and the thing holding him made as if to toss him aside. No way he would survive a fall from this hight. He gripped its arms tightly, as tightly as he could, wich still felt embarrassingly weak.  
It tried to shake him off, but with a new surge of terror driven strength he clamped on tightly, going so far as to wrap his legs around it as well. He would have held on with his teeth to if his head were close enough. He wasn't ready to die, he focused on the hats jingling to mask the pounding of his heart. He focused completely on the bells and holding on as twisted and pulled, trying to detach him.  
Then the green haired thing was gone,  
and Jason found himself falling, the ground rushing up to crush was glad now that he couldn't make much sound with his mouth, if he could he wasn't sure he'd have been able to keep from screaming. The hats jingling followed him the whole way down.  
'It doesn't feel right. There's something else, something different from this. This shouldn't be happening'.  
He wasn't falling anymore. His eyes snapped open almost before he'd realised they'd ben closed.  
'I'm still here', he sucked in a deep breath. A beautifully painful breath of the beautifully stale air of the place of green swirlyness. He laughed, a whispery, gravely sound that hurt even more. It hurt because he was still here,  
he hadn't gone splat on the island below.  
It hurt because it could.  
'I'm so glad it hurts', he sighed, looking up at his pointed shoes. 'And now I'm floating.. ' maybe I didn't make it'.  
He checked below him for a body,  
nothing.  
'Okay pain, go away.'

Danny watched the falling ghosts,  
wondering if he should catch him. The look in the boys face was frantic,  
terrified even. The fall couldn't kill him for obvious reasons, but it was still uncomfortable watching someone panic like that. Someone injured who had saved Dannys life.  
In the end the choice was taken out of the halfas hands when, still above the tree tops, the ghost caught himself.  
The clown seemed about as surprised about it as Danny was, maybe even more so. The other boy stared up at his feet, then he frowned, and winced.  
To the hero it seemed like it would have been a good idea to leave the ghost and hurry home, he had homework to finish.  
He held on to the hope that he wasn't so late that pulling an alĺ nighter wouldn't be enough to finish it all.  
He sighed, even as he humoured the thoughts he knew he couldn't. Heroes didn't leave confused, hurt kids all alone in strange places. Even if the kid was a ghost and looked to be around the same age as the hero.  
Technically the ghost was at most a few days old, and even to a ghost the ghost zone was probably plenty strange.  
Cautiously the hero aproached the young ghost. Up close he looked even more beat up than Danny had first guessed at.  
"Hey", he greeted cautiously, and did his best not to flinch when he caught the ghosts attention.  
"Hey".  
"So, uh, is there somewhere I can help you get to?", Danny offered, it was hard to focus on anything but all the bruises and cuts visible on the ghost. The halfa felt bad about it, but he wished the ghosts checkered clothes were all black so he wouldn't have to see green smudges where skin was covered.  
The ghost shook his head, eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
"Okay", Danny nervously scratched the back of his head. "Is there anything you need help with? You did kind of literally save skin, you know , from Skulker.  
Thats the guy we fought just now... He wants to skin me, literally. "  
"Gross, I heard", the ghost was already looking better. Danny hadn't often seen such realistic wounds on a ghost, to have heard of Skulker and still taken him on, brave. "Where'd he go?"  
"Huh", the halfa tore his focus from a slowly closing cut above the ghosts eye.  
"The ugly metal thing, Skulker, " the name sounded weird coming out the ghosts mouth.  
"Oh", Danny shook the thermos, smirking at the screaming coming from inside it,  
and the look on the ghosts face. "I told you there was no soup".  
"You also said I was the joker", the ghosts eyes hardened.  
"What?", the hero frowned ,"I don't... oh".  
The ghost, who had been only marginally cival up to that point looked ready to attack again. The childish part of Dannny was screaming for a rematch now that he knew h3 he could easily beet the weakened ghost. The dominant,  
heroic part wasted no time in stomping that part down. He backed up a little,  
raising his hands to appear less threatening.  
"Sorry, in my defence you were acting really weird".  
The ghost didn't seem placated by this,  
but he didn't move to attack.  
"You don't go around calling people that,  
what are you, an idiot?"  
That unheroic choking sound escaped Dannnys throat yet again.  
"And you don't go around calling people idiots, not when you go around dressed like that. If you're going to attack every one who brings it up, you should think about changin it". Danny knew reasoning with most ghosts wasn't possible, it had never worked before but this ghost had just seemed so human. Now he was tired, and sore, and had enough of ghosts as he could take.  
The ghost pulled off his hat and threw it at Dannny. The halfa dodged easily and turned away. "You know what, forget it,  
you can probably look after yourself. Go back to doing whatever you were doing".  
'He's a ghost he'll be fine', Danny thought to himself, 'I have homework'. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 1

Again, If you have any questions please ask them on my ao3 account where I can actually answer them. Thanks for reading.

"So you like boxes?," Jason sat on his island with his head propped up on his arm.  
"I AM THE BOX GHOST. I WILL PROVE THEIR SUPERIORITY BEYOND DOUBT"  
Jason could practically see the caps.  
"Yeah, they're great, but what kind of boxes in particular?" He didn't understand the inhabitants of this strange world, all of those he'd spoken with so far had made no sense at all. It was frustrating that he had to be there at all, but isolating himself would just make him crazy so he decided to at least make an effort to learn.  
"The cardboard kind." The glowy blue made held out hid hand and a small cardboard box appeared. "I AM THE BOX GHOST. APPRECIATE THEIR CORRUGATED BEAUTY!"  
"Ohh." Jason leaned in to get a good look at the box. It would have been just a plain little brown cardboard box, but it had a faint blue glow. "So only corrugated cardboard then, or any cardboard?" He tilted his head curiosly.  
"I like the corrugated," the Box Ghost said.  
"Shouldn't you be the Corrugated Cardboard Box Ghost then?" The boy asked.  
"It doesn't have the same flow." The Box Ghost stood and raised hid arms menacingly. " I AM THE CORRUGATED CARD BOARD BOX GHOST! FEAR ME!," he screamed. "See? I wouldn't get any respect that way."  
Jason nodded like he agreed, but said nothing. Honestly he doubted the box ghost got much respect either way.  
Maybe he was wrong, he mused. Who knew what passed for normal in this place. Maybe there were people who were even crazier ou there. Or sane in that place was crazy. He wasn't sure where he would fit in.  
He thought he was sane, and he hadn't heard pretend noises from the hat since he'd decided to ignore it. The point was that he had heard the noises in the first place. Did the hat even exist? Did the strange world? Was he sitting in a psyco ward babbling to himself? He pulled his mind away from those thoughts, no point driving himself crazy with things he couldn't confirm in the first place.  
'Heh, crazy from wondering if I'm crazy.'  
He chuckled inwardly at his own joke.  
Outwardly he was as interested as a boy could be. Nodding at regular intervals,  
and making comments on the beauty of boxes.  
"So any cardboard, or just boxes?"  
"Boxes, just boxes. FEAR THE BOX GHOST! Understand?" He explained like he was talking to someone who was slow.  
"Oh great. What got you into the whole thing?" Jason asked.  
The box ghost gave him a funny look,  
then floated up. "I AM THE BOX GHOST."  
The blue man said again. "That's what."  
"But why are you the box ghost?" The boy pressed.  
The box ghost shrugged and floated off.  
"FAIRWELL CHILD!" He yelled.  
"Weird," Jason muttered and reclined with his feet dangling over the edge. He wondered if he could fly too. He looked at the endless drop past his shoes and shivered. Better not to chance it, if he needed to he'd figure it out.

Danny groaned and slammed his head against the desk in his room. The whole super hero thing was really over-rated. It was awesome, so awesome. But homework went on no matter what. He squinted at his math again, with the way the numbers and letters floated off the page he could have sworn he was dyslexic.  
He reluctantly picked up his pencil and began scribbling on a blank page. It could be done on time. He shot a glance at his alarm clock, 04:36. His head bounced a little off his desk again. He could have cried when he thought of his soft warm bed. With a sob he picked up his pencil again. At the very least he'd get points for effort.  
He was asleep at his desk in five minutes.

The next day Daniel Fenton woke up with a crick in his neck, unfinished homework and not even two hours of sleep. It would have been nice if Mr Lancer had been a little more understanding when he'd fallen asleep in history class.  
Maybe coming to school on time and giving in the homework would have helped his case. At least it wasn't the big paper he'd given in a few days ago.  
Being late with that would have been disastrous. Like the repentant student he was he even used his detention to catch up on more homework.  
He took a seat right in front of the vice principals desk and pulled out his books right away. Silently he begged the universe for a few ghost free hours and began to write.  
Surprisingly Lancer didn't say anything the whole time. He just sat watching Danny and his fellow detainees. Danny was a little unnerved at first, and he was sure he felt the teachers eyes on him more than a few times, but he ignored it and let his homework draw him in.  
A bell signalled freedom and everyone hurried to get out of the class. Yes, no ghost attacks the whole time. He could leave now and even had a lot of homework done. He was almost to the door. Sam and Tucker were standing there waiting for him.  
"Mr Fenton, could you stay behind a few minutes?" Lancer said.  
Danny groaned. Just a few more minutes. 


	6. Chapter 6

Is everything alright at home? Are you not getting along with your parents for some reason?

Really? Lancer had picked a good time to start having suspicions like that. With Dannys luck he would have expected something like that to come up in the middle of a crisis where it would have been impossible to deal with properly. As it was, all he'd had to do was smile nervously, say everything was fine, it was just hard to sleep lately with all the ghost attacks, nightmares you know.

It really wasn't out of character for poor Danny Fenton who ran at first sight from any ghost. Lancer had nodded, it must have been hard on the unfortunate boy, his parents were often in the thick of things, no wonder he couldn't sleep. Danny had gotten out of it with just a note for his parents and an appointment with the school counselor. The note was read, and then discarded. They couldn't really do anything about the ghost attacks anyway. That was Danny Phantoms job.

The job he was busy with right now. It wasn't a strong ghost, just a few smacks into the fight and it was already hiding. If he could have left it he would have. The spongy white thing had just popped up right in front of him while he'd been spacing out at Nasty Burger pretending to listen to his friends' conversation. It had attacked first, but hadn't done any damage; it had been like getting hit with a pillow.

Even from this ghost had scared little Daniel Fenton run, just in time for Phantom to swoop in and save the day. He really would have just left it alone is not for the fact that it had popped up out of its own portal, not the one in the Fenton basement. What if it decided to bring someone else along next time? Danny was searching through the now empty kitchen when she showed up.

Valery Grey, The Red Huntress, someone he really wasn't feeling up to dealing with. She charged for him without even sparing a glance for the little portal ghost.

"Phantom!" Her greeting was followed by an ecto-blast to his back. It wasn't hard to dodge when he'd gotten a warning.

"Listen, can we do this later?" He flew up and as far away from her as he could get without leaving the kitchen. "That little suckers probably going to cause some damage if we keep at this for too long."

"More damage than this?" She waved her arm in a gesture that encompassed the whole of the restaurant. Danny peered through the wide door into the dinning area. Tables were toppled; there were scorch marks on the walls and floors, which were also covered in food. She fired at him again. "All of this will be fixed with pay-cuts, ghost!"

He really doubted that she'd appreciate an apology, or that she'd have come after him with any less passion if they'd met at any other location. Was Phantom even supposed to know that she worked here?

"Okay but listen, that thing can…" He had to duck behind a counter to avoid another of her attacks.

"Quiet!" At least she was on foot instead of zipping around on that hover bike of hers. Yay for enclosed spaces, right?

Danny peeked over the edge just in time to see the little ghost pop up behind her. "Hey look out!" he called, pointing at it.

"I'm not stupid enough for something like that to work." She didn't turn, and she didn't see the ghost opening up the swirly green portal.

Danny flinched at her scream and as soon as she was gone he transformed back into his human form and ran out to find his friends. He wasn't sure why exactly the ghost had taken her, and she could handle herself for a while in the ghostzone, but Danny didn't want to take the chance. He'd have to go in and look for her.

Jason was bored, extremely bored, so bored he contemplated jumping off his island to see if he could fly again, but only bored to contemplate it, not to actually do it. Not yet anyway. Mr. Ugly hadn't come back yet and neither had the Box Ghost, leaving the boy with only weird little things that could hardly speak to amuse him, if he could have chased after them it wouldn't have been so bad, but all he could do was watch them float past every now and them.

He sat with his legs crossed; chin resting on his left palm as he peered over the floating islands edge. Was there even a ground here, or did it just go down forever? Maybe if he jumped he'd fall for long enough that he'd eventually get the hang of floating again. In his lap sat the hat, his right hand feeling for any seams in the fabric, there weren't any. Humming tunelessly he fixed his gaze on one of the floating doors in the distance. If he could get to one of them and see where the little things kept disappearing to…

There was a pooping sound behind him that caught his attention. Curiously he looked over his shoulder to find the source, another little creature; this one was white with beady little glowing red eyes. It looked like an evil floating marshmallow. Jason laughed a little and walked over to it, but went silent when he noticed what it had brought with it. There was someone dangling over the edge of his island. Turning just in time to see the marshmallow entering one of the doors he sighed. The person was covered head to toe in some kind of red armor and wasn't floating away.

He knelt down to get a closer look. "Are you okay?" He asked.

The only reply he got was a red beam of light flying for his face. With a short scream he tumbled back, hitting his head on the hard packed ground. "Hey!" He yelled indignantly, was everyone here going to attack him on sight or what?

"Stay back ghost!" The voice was a little distorted, but he could tell it was a girl.

"Did you hit you're head or something?" He asked as he rubbed his, there wasn't a bump at least. "Or did you maybe escape from an asylum?" People in weird clothes that randomly attacked people belonged in asylums as far as he knew.

"No!" She reached for something on her wrist.

Bad news! A sense for danger he hadn't really registered before now kicked in. Bending over the end he snatched the object away from her. To his surprise her suit disappeared, leaving a totally normal girl hanging over the edge of a cliff.

"Do you want some help?" He asked after a little thought.

"Give that back!" She shot him a green eyed glare that would have melted him if it was really as poisonous as it looked.

"Will you shoot me again?" He raised an eyebrow and waved the watch around.

She opened her mouth to reply, but lost her grip. Jason's hand reflexively reached out to catch her before she'd even had the chance to scream. He was surprised at how light she was. The hat chimed and he swept it off his head when he reached down with his other hand to pull her up. He backed away when he noticed her shaking, and not with fear.

"Where is it?" She fixed him with that glare of hers again.

He chuckled; she couldn't glare half as hard as it would take to faze him. It took him a moment to get past his amusement and process her question. "I think I dropped it."

"What?!" She charged at him again, but it was easy to sidestep the kick she sent his way.

"It's not my fault! Would you prefer to have fallen?" He tried to take her seriously, but couldn't help the laugh that slipped out as he dodged her attacks. He'd been so bored a few minutes ago, it was fun being around someone that couldn't fly away. He tripped her, then bent over so his face was close to hers. "I can't say I'd be grateful if I were you though…"

With a grunt she was back on her feet faster than he'd expected, she sent a high kick his way. He ducked under it then gave her leg a little push to set her of balance, knocking her down to the ground again. When she twisted around to look at him again his laughter was cut short. There was a thin trail of blood trickling from her nose.

"Crap. Sorry." He took a step back. "I'm guessing you really needed that." He took off the hat and tossed it her way." You can use that for the blood." He looked over the edge and saw her watch a few islands below him. "I'll get it back."

"I'll get it myself!" Her voice was a little muffled by the hat she held over her face.

Jason lifted his hands in a show of surrender. He felt like by hurting her he'd broken some kind of rule he could just barely remember. Violent, Angry. He heard whispers at the back of his mind. It made him feel guilty and he wasn't even sure why. The girl was looking over the edge at her watch, it was too far down for her to just jump, would she be able to climb down to be nearer like he could have?

"Just let me do it." He slipped over the edge and made his way as close to the next island as he could get before falling the rest of the way. The impact didn't hurt his legs as much as he was sure it should have. It was only when he'd gotten the watch that he realized he now had no way of getting back up.

Last time he'd flown, but he had no idea how to repeat that. He looked up to find her watching him. He sighed and reached for the pointed tip of one of the islands drifting lazily above him. This was going to take some time.

Valery watched the ghost as he climbed and dropped his way down the three islands between him and her armor. She'd been furious when he'd brushed off her attacks the way he had, not even using his ghost powers, mocking her with his laughter the whole time. Then he'd given her a bloody nose and suddenly his whole demeanor had changed. She vindictively pressed the hat as hard against her nose as she could without hurting herself, letting her blood soak into the cold fabric.

The ghost looked back up at her and she barely heard the curse he let out. She chuckled when he tried to reach the little island nearest him. She caught herself and straitened out her expression before her heard her. She couldn't let her self be caught off guard by a ghost. He was a ghost and could have simply flown there and back, could have finished her off in an instant, but he chose to toy with her.

Crossing her arms she watched him more closely, she'd get her armor back from him, then she'd teach him that not all humans were unable to defend themselves from his kind.

Meanwhile in the Fenton basement, Danny and his friends were planning for there excursion into the ghostzone.

They'd decided that it would be easiest for Danny to lure her out as Phantom, and then lead her to the portal opening with some help from Sam and Tucker. His two best friends would be close by in-case of an emergency, but out of Valery's sight. It would raise way to many questions if she saw them.

With a sigh and a quick look around to make sure his parents weren't back from the store yet, Danny transformed and flew into the portal. He really hoped Valery hadn't been taken somewhere too dangerous.


	7. Chapter 7

In an underground base lit only by the screen of a large computer, the clacking of computer keys was the only sound that could be heard besides the occasional screech of a bat. Silhouetted before the dim light was a broad shouldered man hunched over his workspace, eyes focused intently on the information scrolling across it. There was stiffness in his posture that spoke of how long he'd been seated in that position. He gave no sign that he heard the bump, or the tapping of footsteps descending from the narrow stairway, but he did hear.

"Sir, your supper." A tray was set before him, the lid lifted by an elderly man in a tailored suit who then took a place besides and slightly behind his master.

"Thank you Alfred." The man took a long drink of the coffee that accompanied the meal, but paid the food no notice. The bitter drink had the feint underlying taste of a sedative the old butler was fond of using. The large man would have laughed had he had he been in a better mood he'd been immune to that sedative for a long time already; really his system was so accustomed to caffeine the coffee only kept him awake via a placebo affect.

"Master Richard called the house earlier; I informed him that you were otherwise engaged." Alfred said refilling the empty mug.

"Is he back from his trip yet?" The newly filled mug was empty in seconds.

"Yes, he mentioned no intention of paying a visit though." Again the mug was filled. "In the event of him making contact again should I inform him of … events that have transpired recently?"

"That wont be necessary, I doubt he'd help if he knew."

"I see, Miss Kane is asking about your health after you missed her benefit Saturday evening."

Another light started blinking on the console, it was a wonder he remembered what all of them were for. The man stood and pulled the cowl over his head. "Gordon's activated the signal, I'll be back in a few hours."

"I'll reheat this on your return then." Alfred picked up the untouched food while the Batman moved walked passed. "And Miss Kane master Bruce?"

"Tell her I'm dealing with Family matters." Batman said, then he was gone.

"Of course, Sir," the butler said to an empty cave."

"Give that back!" Valery was growing more and more frustrated with the ghost who'd said he would retrieve her suit for her. Just more proof that you should never trust a ghost.

"I'll give it back in a minute," he laughed and zipped by on her hover-board. "Where can I get one of these?!"

Why the ghost thought it needed the board to fly she had no idea, what she did know was that it was getting later and her father would be expecting her home soon. "I don't have time for this." She muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. She waited for the ghost to come near again and tried to grab it, but it sped by again before she could touch it, she'd never wished her board were slower.

"I need that." She said, tapping her foot.

"Why, d'ya have somewhere to be?" It was doing a handstand, its black and white suit covered by her red armor, how did it even fit?

"Yes I do, you ever hear of parents?" She slapped a hand over her mouth at the curious look he gave her. Never let a ghost know you have a weakness, that one rule was more important than any of her others. This one knew what she looked like, if it ever made it to the human world it would be an easy for a ghost to follow her discreetly and find out where she lived.

"Fine, this suit is tight anyway. If it were black and blue I'd be a mini him." It flew back to the island and hopped of the board. "How do I get it off?" The ghost tugged on the armor near its neck.

Valery folded her arms and sighed, this ghost probably wasn't smart enough to find its way to the human world in the first place, and she didn't feel she had anything to worry about. She walked over to help him deactivate the suit.

"Do you see anything yet?" Danny asked.

"Not yet." Tucker said over the comm.

Danny groaned. It had been hours and they still hadn't found anything. They were getting deeper and deeper into the ghost-zone now, too deep for his liking. Things got more dangerous the deeper they went, and the area was starting to look very familiar. In the ghost-zone familiar was always a bad thing, it meant it he'd been there before an he'd never had anything good happen to him in the ghost-zone.

"Wait, I think I'm getting something." Crunching could be heard in the background. "Turn left and keep going."

The teen hero turned and looked into the distance, he was about to ask to make a reply that might have been funny, but his eyes landed on a clump of islands that were even at this distance made him nervous. The feeling only grew as the spec did. No. she could not have ended up there, with how huge the ghost-zone was there was no way he was going to have to go back there this soon. But there was a way, and he was going to have to, because as he grew nearer he heard his friend confirm it.

"Dead ahead." Tucker said.

Danny steeled himself and speed up. Maybe Skulker would be busy hunting away from home today.

It wasn't long before he could make out two blobs on one of the islands, one was in red armor and he thought he was seeing things when the other looked like… Valery? Soon he could hear voices too.

"Hold still." Valery said, tugging on the armor. Was it Technus?

With a burst of speed Danny had flown forward and tackled the suit sending it falling over the edge of the island. That must have set off something because the suit retracted and revealed the black and white of a familiar young ghost. The ghost screamed as he fell and Danny instinctively lunged after it, he caught the ghost and set him on he nearest floating island before backing up. The ghost was breathing heavily and holding his chest like he had a heart beat to feel.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked cautiously.

"Soup-Boy." The ghost said and slipped something off his wrist with a shrug. "That worked." He jerked his head in Valerys direction. "Friend of yours?"


	8. Chapter 8

"Uhhh, hi." Danny said nervously. "Sorry about that. I thought you were someone else."

"No problem." The ghost scrubbed a hand over his face."

"You're sure?" Danny backed up a little more. He wasn't sure why he knew, but the ghost was giving off the same air that he would have expected from a time bomb, one that was reaching zero at a frighteningly fast pace.

"Yeah I'm sure." In two great leaps that the hero couldn't follow the ghost had closed the distance between them and a fist and thrown sent Danny knocking into another little Island a few meters away. "What the heck is wrong with everyone here? The only person I've seen so far that hasn't attacked was Box-Ghost!" He stood right at the edge of the island. "Come back here you coward, on the ground, a fair fight without your tricks! See how tough you are then!"

Before he could get too angry Danny reminded himself that he was dealing with a child. Only a weeks old at most. Despite being able to catch himself when they'd first met the ghost still wasn't using any of his powers. Guilt quickly replaced the anger that was left. The ghost-zone was a dangerous place, Danny knew that better than anything. If the ghost had been fighting for it's life … what was left of it anyway … then that was on Danny for leaving him alone the way he had. Heroes didn't do that, no matter how tired they were. He sighed and decided to deal with it the way he would a human child that was in the same situation.

"Are you listening to me?!" The ghost yelled. "Come here you piece of…"

Okay he was more foul mouthed than most little kids, but Danny could deal with it. "Can you tell me your name, we can go find someone to take care of you until you learn to deal with your … err situation."

"I'll deal with your situation you pathetic, weak, floating pansy! I'll shove my throat fist down your throat and …" The ghost didn't seem either lost or afraid, at all.

"I thought you were someone else, calm down I said I was sorry. I'm trying to help you." Danny held up his hands in an attempt to placate the other boy."

"Do I look like I need help?!." The ghost threw his had at Danny again, just like last time.

Danny caught it. "Yes you do! Can you even see yourself?!" The ghosts raised fists dropped a little. Danny lowered his voice. "Do you even know where you are?"

The ghost ran a hand through his snowy hair while shaking his head.

"Phantom!" Valery shouted.

"Listen." Danny said softly. "I've got to take care of her before she tries to kill us both. Wait here until I come back, I know someone who can help us." It wasn't a good idea to make Valery wait, it was hard enough to reason with her when she was normal angry. If she got any more worked up it would be impossible. Before he could turn and leave the ghost threw something at him again, It wasn't as fast as the hat had been and Danny caught it easily shooting an annoyed look at the culprit.

"It's hers," the boy said, "she might calm down if you give it to her."

A smirk tugged at Dannys lips. He doubted having her suit back would make Valery calm down.

Jason watched the other boy fly off, everybody in this place but the girl could fly, some of them had done other things too. He really had no idea where he was, thinking about where he'd come from made him feel sick, and he couldn't exactly spend the rest of his life sitting on a floating rock waiting for answers to find him. As much as he hated it he did need help. Staying alone forever wasn't an appealing thought at all, and the flying boy was the most normal person besides the girl who he doubted could help him.

He hadn't been that angry when the boy had hit him, not really. It was when the boy had caught and set him down, then treated him like a little kid that Jason had wanted to hurt him. Jason wasn't a little kid, he could take care of himself, somehow, in a way that gave him a headache he knew that he always could, and that trusting someone else would get him hurt. Not the kind of abstract hurt that made you ball your eyes out, but the kind that left you bloody and crawling on the floor with broken ribs that punctured your lungs and blood in your mouth and pain and pain and…

Biting his tongue he used the real to block the imaginary. No, he really didn't want to trust anybody, he had to wait, wait for … someone. Despite the headache, he knew that someone was coming, someone was coming to save him, but that someone needed him whole and sane. He knew he'd be fine, all he had to do was wait. Maybe Someone couldn't find him in the land of Green Swirliness, the place was completely alien to Jason, and not the red and blue spandex kind of alien. It was likely that whoever was coming for him needed him to be somewhere more normal.

He folded his arms and waited. The girl had put on her suit and was attacking the Soup-Boy, maybe he shouldn't be so pissed off at these people for attacking him on sight. From what he'd seen so far it was just how people here greeted each other. Hadn't he learned something about adjusting to local customs? He knew that wasn't something he was good at, but he could try. He could prove that he wasn't second best, the Someone would be proud when they found him.

Out the corner of his eye he caught some kind of vehicle lurking just out of sight. He balled his hands into fists, maybe he should go say hello.


	9. Chapter 9

Sam hated the ghost-zone; most people would think that, being a goth, she liked it by default. They couldn't have been more wrong if they thought she liked sparkly pink dresses. It was one thing to like horror stories and skull backpacks, and another thing entirely to like something that was the source of all of half your best friends' problems. It was the source of a sizable amount of the other halves problems as well.

"We've got a problem," Said half best friend said, pushing up his glasses.

"What is it?" She took her eyes of the fight to give him her attention.

In answer he pointed out one of the side windows. There was a ghost scaling the side of one of the islands. She would have wondered how he could even climb an upside down triangle, but ghosts didn't really follow the laws of physics, least of all in the ghost-zone. He climbed and leapt his way towards them stopping when the nearest island was out of his reach. As they watched him Sam flicked on the ghost shield, just in case. It would drain a bit more power, but in the place that spawned things you fought on a daily basis it was best to be careful. They'd be gone soon anyway, Danny seemed to be finishing up with his baiting of Valery, not long now and he'd be ready to lead her to the portal and they could all get back.

"I think he's saying something," Tucker said.

"Huh," Sam turned her attention back from Dannys fight.

The climbing ghost was waving his arms and jumping up and down. It was weird, but not near as weird as the other things she'd seen. Still, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to just dismiss it.

"We can't make contact directly." Tucker said, "Using the external communications systems will get Valerys attention." The boy squinted out the window, trying to get a better look at the ghost. "I think he may be trying to show us something."

"Like what?" Sam asked.

"Don't know." Tucker got up from he's seat and moved to the back. "I'll check quick."

Sam kept her eyes on Danny up until she heard the door open. "Tucker, what are you doing?" She stood up quickly.

"Saying hello." Her friend said. The door opened wide and Tucker waved with a smile at the ghost who had got much closer to them than she would have expected while she wasn't watching.

"Tucker don't!" She rushed to shut the door a second too late.

"Hey, what's…"

Tucker didn't get the chance to finish before the ghost had leaped through the opening, crashing into the bespectacled boy.

"Hello." The ghost said, smile lighting up his red eyes. It drew back its fist. "Nice to meet you"

"Do you know how much trouble this going to be for me!"

Danny just barely dodged the shot she fired from her blaster. This wasn't going as well for him as the fight at the Nasty Burger had been, as terribly as that gad turned out. Now she was using her board to full effect, zooming around him and firing from all directions. Danny wasn't confident enough in his aim to fire any of his own ecto-blasts at her, she was going too fast and he didn't want to risk hitting her.

A frustrated Valery made for a very frustrating fight. She was moving around in every direction but the one he wanted her to move in.

"Come on, I gave you back your suit, doesn't that make up for a little." He tried for a charming smile.

"NO!"

He actually had to take a moment to get back the breath he probably didn't need after that flurry. Now he was thinking it would have maybe been easier to give her the suit after he'd dragged her through the portal, but super heroes didn't do things like that, so he banished the thought. It would have made her hate him twice as much, and she hated him plenty already.

He sighed, well at least he was caught up enough on his homework that might have been able to take a rest after all of this.

"Danny!" A scream from where he knew he'd left his friends.

Both he and Valery spun in the direction of the call. Forgetting about Valery he sped for their location and arrived just in time to spot Tucker being thrown out the open door. If it had been possible his heart would have stopped.

"What happened?" He set his friend down gently on the nearest island.

"Sam!" Tucker pointed back to the vehicle and Danny took off again, before he could reach her the door slid closed and the windows slid shut.

"SAM!" He screamed, pounding on the metal, ghost-proof hell.

Nonononononono

He screamed as he continued uselessly.

An ecto-blast hit his hand, he'd forgotten about Valery.

"Get away from them ghost!" She said.

"Help me, or go away!" He said, desperately trying to find some way to pry the door open. Sam was in there, all alone with a violent ghost. Valery attacked again and out of frustration he shot an ecto-blast in her direction. Sam was in danger; Tucker was exposed in the ghost-zone, alone.

Danny began firing his blasts at the door, he had to save her.

"I just want to say hello."

If it hadn't just thrown her friend out into the ghost-zone Sam would have believed that. Trying to keep calm she took a deep breath. Why was she shaking so much, she'd seen Danny catch Tucker, could hear him banging down the door.

"Hello." She pressed herself against the console, as far from the ghost as she could get. She'd damaged it when she'd fallen against it, scraping her arm on one of the sharp bits that had broken off.

The ghost boy pulled back a fist and she curled in on herself. "Don't." She tried shielding her face.

"Don't what?" He said.

She opened her eyes not even knowing when they'd closed, and found him standing way too close.

"Please," she said. She could hear Danny screaming, blasting at the door. He couldn't het in, she had no weapons, and she'd never been so scared of a ghost before. This one was too real. She could see faint creases in his skin, stitches in his clothes. It was too real, like he wasn't even a ghost, somehow she felt he wasn't. He wasn't.

"You don't want to." He said. It wasn't a question, and almost sounded like he wasn't talking to her at all.

She shook her head, hope filling her chest. He took a step away from her, confusion filling his face, followed by what, even in the dim light she could make out as horror.

"He didn't fly." The ghost said, leaping for one of the blacked out windows. He bashed it with his fist. "How do you do this!" He turned to Sam. "Open the door!" He said, his lips trembling.

"It's broken." Sam said. She waved her arm at the broken console.

His eyed widened and he punched the door before moving over to where she stood.

Sam backed away from him quickly, accidentally brushing her hurt arm against the seat. She hissed at the sudden pain, taking his attention away from where he was messing with the controls.

"I hurt you." He said, a hand coming to his mouth. "That boy, he, I…"

"Our friend got him." Sam said, she didn't want him panicking and getting violent again.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. She took a step towards him, but he jumped away from her like she was the dangerous one. It only lasted a moment before he took off his hat and threw it away from him, but in that moment she saw something she'd take time to convince herself was real.

"Relax." It took all her courage to say that one word.

"I didn't mean to." She knew he wasn't talking to her. "I didn't."

He couldn't stand tat damn hat! He couldn't stand the voices crawling into his head.

Did you push him?

No he whispered. He'd fallen, he'd fallen, and he'd deserved it, he'd been terrified and deserved it. It wasn't Jason's fault, he didn't need to feel any remorse. He hadn't wanted to touch any part of that filth, he shouldn't have been expected to. It wasn't his fault, that man hadn't deserved to be saved, not after what…

But he had hurt people too. He'd thrown a boy out of a plane, hurt a girl. Kids weren't supposed to be afraid of… of him.

He looked up. "I didn't mean to." This he said to the girl this time and tried for a smile. He could fix this, the hat was back on his head but he could fix it.

"I'm sorry." He smiled, "haven't been here very long. My name's… uh." He trailed off, forgetting what he'd been meaning to say. This hadn't happened in a while. It didn't matter; he wasn't supposed to give away information like that in the field anyway. The girl was looking at him strangely now, at least she didn't look afraid anymore, but he kept his distance just in case. "Who are you?" He didn't hold out a hand to shake, better not to spook her,

"Sam." She said after a moment. "My name is Sam."

"Yeah, cute name. I'm sorry about scaring you and your friend earlier, you sure he's okay."

She nodded slowly.

"It's just I'm not exactly… I'm not from around here. Not sure how things work yet."

Something like pity, no pity exactly filled her features, not quite burying her fear, even under the fake smile. He hated fake smiles like that, but he squashed down the anger. He wasn't angry, he was in complete control of himself.

"D-Do you know where here is?" She asked.

"Not a clue kid. We should get find away to open this door though. Do you mind if I… "He gestured at the console and she nodded shakily. "Right." He gave a nod of his own and inspected the damage. Some broken whatever that plasticy material was, and some wires. He smiled, he could do this. Somehow he knew that he could, maybe he couldn't memorize those chemicals one hundred percent, but he was good with cars, and this was just a really advanced car. "You don't have any tools back here, do ya?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Just under the console." She said, pointing.

"Thanks." He dug poked his head underneath, not as dark as he'd thought it would have been. There was a feint red light that he couldn't find the source of, but helped him find the little box quickly. "And if you can find a way to calm your friend down that would be great. This could take a while."

She nodded and moved towards the door as he got to work.

"Danny!"

He almost didn't hear her on the other side, the doors were so thick.

"Sam, are you okay?" He yelled.

"I'm fine." Came the reply. "And Tucker?"

Danny spun around to get a look at his other friend who pointed a few islands down. "He's okay. What happened Sam?"

"This other gh-guy thought he could fly. Just a misunderstanding" She said. "He's trying to get the door open now."

"What did he look like." Danny asked, but something told him he knew.

"Uh." It was almost a minute before he got an answer. "Black and white suit, a pointy hat." She said at last and Danny dragged a hand over his face.

Frustration almost filled the spot in his chest that relief had freed up. Just that kid, of course he wouldn't be able to understand the different between ghosts and humans yet. Danny regretted leaving him alone now even more now, poor kid probably had no idea what was going on in this strange place. Tucker was yelling now, jumping up and down, waving his arms to get Dannys attention. A quick look around showed nothing dangerous, and for being in the ghost-zone his ghost sense hadn't picked up much the whole time.

Tucker wasn't in trouble, but Sam might be very quickly if she said something to make the ghost go flip his mood again. Danny couldn't leave her alone but Tucker was getting more insistent.

"Just don't call him a joker okay," Danny said, "I gotta check something."

He waited for Sam's affirmative before leaving to go check what Tucker wanted.

"What's going on?" Tucker asked as soon as Danny was close enough to hear.

"It's okay, for now but we have to get those doors open." Danny said. "Anything you can do?"

"Not from here." Tucker pulled out his PDA. "Whatever it is needs to be fixed manually. I you get me close enough to talk though I might be able to relay some instructions."

Danny picked Tucker up and flew him over to his other friend. He was glad that neither of them were fazed by the things that happened, neither of them could do what they could, but still they tried to help him. Even as a headache started building from listening to Tucker yelling through the door so close to his ear, Danny was grateful.

He didn't even think about what Tucker had been trying to show him before.

Valery groaned, as far as days went, she could think of only two that were worse than what she'd been through on this one. All she wanted to do was get home and go to bed. But here she sat in the ghost-zone, alone with nothing but a busted up suit, her gun had fallen over the edge of the island, into the foggy depths below. Now she was really stuck with no way home.

She'd fallen far enough before her mode of transportation had broken down that she couldn't even see Phantom anymore, the spec that had been him had disappeared behind one of the islands after he'd blasted her out of the sky. She hadn't been expecting such a strong attack from him, but she would have tried to stop him either way.

It had been a Fentonworks vehicle that Phantom had been trying to demolish, and there had most certainly been someone inside. She knew that It would take the ghost-boy forever to break through, but whoever was inside must have been terrified. It was times like these that she hardened her resolve to never fall for the tricks of ghosts, no matter how harmless they seemed. The Fentons were probably looking for there equipment and it would be ruined by the time they found it.

Oh, the Fentons, Valery could have slapped herself. They had a working portal into the ghost-zone and the means to travel it. Well not as competent as she herself was she knew that they could in fact handle themselves pretty well. She checked her pockets, relieved to find that her cell was undamaged.

Her benefactor had given her one that worked even in the ghost-zone.

The pointy hated boy had to pause his work for a moment, the feeling that something terrible was starting. Light-years away someone else felt the same and decided to end his current task as fast as possible


	10. Chapter 10

It had been almost an hour now, and the door still hadn't been opened. Danny had given up on asking Tucker how long it would take for him to finish, his head was sore enough without the yelling being directed at him. How did a ghost, or a halfa, even get a headache in the first place? It didn't matter, not like there was anyone he could ask.

"Are you sure you connected the blue one!?" Tucker yelled.

"No, I'm colorblind!" Came the reply.

"Then what are you doing?!" Tucker said. "Do you need me to…"

"Just shut up for a few minutes!" The ghost kid screamed. "I didn't ask for help in the first place!"

"I didn't ask to be thrown out the door!" Tucker screamed back.

"No, but you were stupid enough to open it in the first place!" Said the kid.

"We don't have time for this!" Sam yelled.

Danny wished he had a free hand to plug up even one of his ears. Most of the hour had been spent fighting, and then making a tiny bit of progress before fighting some more. At the rate they were going it would take forever to get home. This wasn't even counting the time it would take to find out where Valery had gone off to.

"Hey, something's started beeping in here!" The ghost yelled.

"What is it?!" Tucker asked."

"Oh no, Danny, your parents are on there way here!" Sam told them.

"How?! We have the speeder!" Danny screamed back.

"They must have another one or something." Tucker said.

Danny didn't remember seeing another specter speeder the last time he'd been in the lab, but it was always so full of junk that it was hard to really be sure.

"We have to get out of here. I hate to ask, but Tucker, how much linger do we have." Danny said.

"I'm not sure how much damage there is, but I don't think we can get it moving before they get here." His friend said.

They heard a curse from the other side of the door and it slid open halfway before it came to a grinding stop. The sound was torture, and Danny nearly dropped his friend when they both tried to protect their ears from it.

"Gah, what did you do man?" Tucker asked rubbing his ears.

"I opened it." The ghost kid said, waggling a steel bar."

"How?" Danny asked.

"Where did he even get that?" Tucker adjusted his glasses.

"He pulled it out of the control panel." Sam said stepping into the low entryway.

"Are you okay?" Danny put Tucker down and rushed to inspect his other friend.

"I'm fine." She brushed him off. "I think he got a shock though." She gestured with a thumb over her shoulder at the ghost.

Danny moved closer carefully. "Does it still hurt?" He asked the ghost.

"No." The ghost crossed his arms and peered over the edge of the speeder.

"Err…" Danny felt like there was something he was supposed to say, but he wasn't sure what it was.

"Danny, they're coming on faster than they should, much faster!" Tucker said, disconnecting his pds from the console."

"We need to get this thing moving." Sam said.

"There isn't time." Tucker said.

"Why are you in such a hurry to get away from your parents?" The ghost asked.

Silence filled the air so fast they could hear it. Even if he was new the ghost had still shown that he could be dangerous. How much had he learned form their careless conversation?

"They, they're not really my parents…" Danny tried lamely. "It's just that they… er…"

"You're a terrible liar." The ghosts faintly glowing red eyes slowly moved to meet each of theirs, cutting through them, silencing any stories they would have tried.

"We just really need to get away, okay." Danny said. "You guys hide and I'll try to distract them long enough…"

"They'll see we have the specter-speeder if we do that Danny", Sam said. "That's not going to work. How would we explain it to them?"

"I don't know." Danny said. "I need to think."

"Why not just fly them away?" The ghost kid asked.

"I'm not fast enough, if I have to carry all of you." Danny said.

"Can you tell me why it's so important to get away?" The kid asked.

When Danny looked up he saw a strange look in the other boys red eyes, which were glowing just a little brighter. The hero shook his head. It almost looked like he was scared, and Danny felt bad for not being able to tell him there was no reason to be.

While generally harmless, his parents would have a field day being able to study a ghost as humanoid as this one. And he couldn't even fly, there was no way the red-eyed boy would be able to get away if the Fentons caught him. In the time it would take Danny to get the young ghost away would there be anything left to save?

He wasn't bothered by being carried off, it felt like it was something that had been done often. He was bothered that he'd be cut out of information that could have been important to figuring out just what was going on. He'd already decided to keep his cool until things made sense again, so he didn't struggle.

Danny gave him a small smile when he flew off to rejoin his friends. The way he was acting was bothersome, like he thought the other boy was made of glass. Were they really that worried he'd slip up again? It was understandable though, he'd almost thrown a kid to his death, not a high point in anyone's day.

Really he should have been grateful that nobody had decided to return the favor. The flying boy probably wouldn't have had a hard tie getting it right.

Sighing he sat down on the little island and strained his ears to make out what they were saying. The word 'parent' drifted out of there hushed circle a few time, and their conversation sped up. That didn't sound good. There were only so many reasons a kid could be so scared of their parents, and none of them were good. He tried to calm himself, thinking that the kids were just in trouble for taking the, 'speeder', they'd called it? Whatever, maybe it was just that they'd gone on a joyride without permission.

The fear in the boys eyes had seemed to real for that. He heard the word experiment and he was completely sure. He wouldn't say anything of course, it wasn't something that most kids were comfortable talking about, and a part of him wanted to brush it off as not his problem. There wasn't anything he could do to help. Another part told him that this was something he was supposed to do, it was the part that made him think of pain, but this time he couldn't bring himself to ignore it.

So he waited, and he tried to listen. Maybe he could meet with these parents personally. Even if they had the same weird abilities as the boy, he'd at least put up a fight, he knew how to do that.


	11. Chapter 11

From where she stood Valery could see the Ghost boy fly the other pointy-hatted boy over to another island, and gently set him down. It wasn't somehow different from any ghost behavior she'd seen before. Normally the ghost kid just fought off other ghosts, protecting his territory like a wolf. What made this boy different? Was it just because Phantom was still in the ghost-zone? Was this new ghost just not a threat?

She squinted to get a good look at him as Phantom flew out of her sights. The red-eyed ghost just stood at the edge of the new island. It was hard to tell fro this distance, but it looked like his arms were crossed. He hadn't looked too different from most ghosts aside from his more humanoid form. When she thought about it, she hadn't seen many ghosts with white hair either. Was it possible that…? No it wasn't, it was just that he wasn't a threat, Phantom probably couldn't be bothered to fight the other boy. Valery hadn't seen the jester-kid use a single ghost power. Whatever reasons Phantom had for not destroying the kid on the spot was none of her business.

Her phone beeped and she waited. The Fentons were almost here, as soon as they got her close enough she'd get the ghost kid then get home. Hopefully she wouldn't be in trouble for being so late. It was a few minutes later that she heard the sound of an engine whirring. The sound got louder, but before whatever vehicle the Fentons had used to get to the ghost-zone was even in sight Phantom picked up the other ghost again and flew off, the humans she'd seen still nowhere in sight.

Her frown grew a little deeper. If they hurried she could still get him

"Sorry, but we've gotta get going like, yesterday." Danny said lifting the ghost-kid into the air and taking off as fast as he could into the depths of the ghost-zone, putting all his effort into getting as far away fro his parents as he could.

"Wait, aren't you gonna get your friends away first?" The Kid said, surprising Danny with the glare he sent the hero.

"They'll be fine, don't worry." Danny tried to smile. It wasn't a lie, Sam and Tucker weren't ghosts, at worst their parents would get a call. They couldn't exactly be blamed for being kidnapped now could they; all Danny had to do was get home before his parents did. First he had to find out what to do with this ghost.

There wasn't anywhere in the ghost-zone that Danny felt comfortable leaving him. Where did one take a ghost child? Danny couldn't really keep an eye on him from the human world, and he really doubted that a ghost daycare was a thing.

"Where are you taking me?" The kid asked.

Danny hummed in response. Maybe there was a king of ghost foster home. Where did new ghosts usually start out? Wasn't he supposed to have a lair?

"Are any of these yours?" He waved his arm, indicating the many doors floating around him.

"No." The kid huffed.

"You sure?" Danny asked, a quick solution would have been so much easier than the only answer he could think of.

"I think I'd know if I had a floating door." The kid said rolling his eyes.

Would he though? If he didn't know he could fly, or about any other abilities he might have had. How much did a new ghost really know about their situation, did he even know what he was? Danny let his eyes fix on the face of the boy he was currently flying through the ghost-zone, suddenly filled with a kind of sadness he didn't really have a word for. How would he even ask about something about that? The younger ghost's eyes were shifting around taking in the unchanging landscape like it was all something new, like it would hurt him if he wasn't ready.

"So, uh…" how did he start this? "My name is Danny, and you?'"

"What?" The kid asked incredulously, like it was the last thing he'd expected to hear.

"Your name." Danny smiled in a way that he hoped looked patient. "I told you mine, I need to call you something right?"

Emotions flashed across the kids face too fast for Danny to read, while somehow still staying almost neutral. "My name?" He muttered.

"Yeah." Danny sighed how was that a difficult question? Wait, if the kid had only recently been born… "Do you have a name?" He asked.

"Of course I have a name." The kid focused on their surroundings again.

"Well, will you tell me what it is?" Danny asked.

"No," the kid said. "How long is it going to take for us to get wherever?"

Danny resisted the urge to groan in frustration. Normally ghosts couldn't tell him their names fast enough. It was always. I am the box ghost! Say my name! - things like that. Was it something that came with age, or just something about the ghosts he was always stuck fighting?

"I'm not sure." Danny said calmly. There was no way he could tell the ghost something he himself wasn't sure of. He wanted to say that he was taking him somewhere safe, but there wasn't really anywhere in the ghost-zone Danny could think of that fit that description. Where did new ghosts usually go? There wasn't anyone Danny could ask, no one he trusted to give an honest answer.

The nameless ghost kid tensed for a second, then turned to look up at Danny. "Are one of these doors yours? Do you know what they are?"

"They're entrances to lairs." Danny said.

"Lairs." The ghost raised an eyebrow. "You mean like, for vampires 'n stuff."

"'N stuff." Danny said. "As far as I know, every ghost is supposed to have one."

"Ghosts?" The kids' eyes began scrutinizing his surroundings even more intensely. "You're kidding right?"

Well the question of how much the kid knew about his situation was partially answered. "You mean you didn't know?" Danny asked just to be sure.

"How would I know something like that?" The kid frowned. "S'not like floating door automatically equals ghost." His frown turned thoughtful.

"I guess not." Danny said, he had to much to worry about now without the potential freak out he knew he would eventually have to deal with if when the kid inevitably found out what he was. The kid was saying something. "What was that?" Danny asked. "I was kinda lost in thought."

The kid had a grin on his face. "Said I shoulda guessed with the colourful poffs floatin' around. I just thought the guy screaming about being the Box-Ghost was a loon."

"You met the Box-Ghost?" Danny asked immediately more alert.

"Yeah, really likes boxes, pretty weird, but didn't try anything, not like most of the other things here." The kid shrugged. "Why, he a friend of yours?"

"Not exactly," Danny said with a relieved sigh. Sure the Box-Ghost was a pushover for the halfa, but he wouldn't have had a problem with a powerless kid.

The silence that followed was so awkward that after a few minutes even the kids next question was welcome.

"Are you sure your friends will be okay?"

"I'm sure." Danny answered a little too fast earning him a strange look from the kid. The hero slipped a smile back on his face. "The worst possible thing that will happen is their parents grounding them for a few days, don't worry."

The kid didn't look too convinced, but the conversation had sparked a new idea in Dannys mind. "What about you?" The hero asked. "Won't your parents be worried right about now." Of course he knew that ghosts didn't have parents, but if this one was only recently formed, then Danny was hopeful that his might still be around.

"My parents?" The kid repeated. "Mine are, were, they're…," He brought up a hand to start tugging on his hair.

Danny set the kid down on a nearby floating island and moved to stand in front of him. "Is there anyone you can think of, someone I can help you find?"

"Someone?" The kids red eyes locked Dannys on him. "Someone, there's someone, but I can't…" He wrapped his arms around himself, eyes shut tightly.

Danny gently laid a hand on the taller boys shoulder. "I can help you find them if you like."

"No," the kid shook off Dannys hand, and backed up, looking like he was on the verge of freaking out. "Someone's…"

"I just want to help you." Danny said, pushing down his frustration yet again. The kid looked scared, very scared, kids weren't supposed to look like that when they were offered help.

"I know." The kid half whispered, his expression hard to gauge with his hair hiding his eyes. "Why?"

"It's what I do." Danny said.

"You some kinda hero or somethin'?" The kid said.

"Exactly." Danny said, and the kid flinched.

They stood in silence for a while before Danny noticed the kids' shoulders shaking. He hurried over to try and offer some kind of comfort, but before he was close enough to the kid though back his head, loud laughter escaping his mouth. Now was Dannys turn to back up, he stood at what felt like a safe distance, too shocked to move at all. I think I broke him It took a few minutes for the laughter to soften and die down into soft chuckles.

"I, I'm sorry." The kid forced out the words through breaths. He looked up at Danny with genuine mirth in his slightly watery eyes. He laughed a little again. "It's just, you don't, haha, your so small, but with that get up, I shoulda thought of it."

"Er, yeah." Danny tried to summon up some righteous anger at what could have possibly been an insult to his capabilities, but was still too shocked for that. "I'm uh… a hero."

"Sure you're not someone's sidekick?" The kid looked relaxed again.

"I'm sure," Danny did not grumble, heroes didn't grumble.

"I'm sorry," the kid said, but he was laughing again, nit sounding at all sorry. At least this laughter sounded normal. "It explains a few things that were bugging me. I'm betting your parents don't know?" His grin wasn't mocking, his posture relaxed.

"No," Danny couldn't see a reason to lie when it was obvious the ghost didn't wouldn't believe him.

"You were serious about helping me?" The kid asked his grin a little less sure. "I don't know if you can"

Dannys anger softened, but didn't disappear completely. He'd help this kid, even if it was just to prove that he was capable of doing it. Whatever people said about hi he was still a hero, he could save a kid, he was serious so he nodded. "I was. I'll help you, I can."

"You can't." The kid said. "Just leave." He sat down. "I'll be fine, you should get back home. There's nothing for you to do here."

Danny wanted to argue, but the kid was right, if he couldn't get the ghost to say anything about where he'd come from, then there was no way to help. "I'm sorry."

The kid rested his head in his hands, expression blank when he looked up again. "Get going, you've helped enough, I can deal."

Danny turned to leave, catching one last look of the kid before he left. There had to be a way he could help, and he'd find it. The kid would be helped, whether he felt he needed it or not. Without being able to fly, there wasn't anywhere the kid could go. Danny was going but he'd be back. He waved goodbye, the kid didn't wave back, but Danny didn't mind. He'd be back


	12. Chapter 12

He felt bad for leaving them all so suddenly, hardly even saying goodbye before he rushed off. They said they needed him, but he assured them that they'd be fine without him for a while, it would be fine.

If he could have made himself believe those words as easily as they had then he wouldn't have been compelled to get away so urgently. Something terrible had happened, he was sure of it, something life changing. He almost didn't want to know, didn't want to have to think about it at all.

In his line of work ignoring things like this always lead to even more problems down the line, problems that were often impossible to fix. Better to get this out of the way.

Maybe it was nothing at all. Just culture shock and stress that made him homesick. It was still his home after all, no matter how tense the atmosphere was there. If it weren't for that kid… He cut off the thought, it wasn't fair, was it. Wasn't the kids fault at all, maybe he was at odds with the old man too, maybe a break would do him good.

Pulling out his cell he considered calling in first, but decided against it, no need to get them all wound up after all.

It was probably nothing.

In his almost empty mansion, Vlad Masters viewed the grainy footage playing across the small handheld screen.

Initially he'd been uncharacteristically annoyed that the girl had gone and gotten herself trapped in the ghost-zone, scrapping her equipment and calling Jack Fenton of all people for help. Really, the extra work had not been at all welcome, but listening to the idiot ramble about his apparent adventure, I came this close to catching the ghost kid, you should have been there Vladdie , that had been nigh unbearable.

Vlad had even considered halting his support of her all together, it was hard to remember why he had started in the first place. Having the Red-Huntress under his control didn't bring him any closer to any of his goals, he was sure there was someone else who could be of more use.

This was of course before, out of curiosity more than anything he checked the hidden camera installed in her helmet. What he found there was very interesting. Rewinding an replaying the recording once more he let a small smile play across his lips.

Daniel had a new friend it seemed. Even with the low quality of this video he could tell this boy was special. His doorbell ran, pulling his attention away fro the screen. He put away the screen and straitened out his desk, one didn't come to be as well off as he by letting himself slack off on his business.

It was fortunate he had Skulker to look into these kinds of things for him. This was interesting enough that he decided to keep funding the Red-Huntress for a while at least.

The boy lay on his back watching the swirly green wisps of whatever it was that floated around hi move around. It was soothing, even if it wasn't very interesting. Being as still as he'd been for as long as could remember didn't sit well with him. He hadn't noticed how much it bothered him in the beginning, but now it was an annoying prickling at the back of his mind.

There was something he was supposed to be doing, he knew there was, but every time he tried to really think about it all that filtered through his brain was laughter, and not any sort of good of the good cheerful king either. It was like the longer he pushed the thoughts aside, the harder they were to think about the next time he tried, but there wasn't anything he could do about that.

How long had he been there even? He had no idea, even though he felt that he should, that a lack of proper day and night cycles shouldn't have kept him from keeping track of how much time had passed. There was someone who would be very disappointed with hi, but whoever it was had something to do with the laughing, so it was getting harder to think about too.

Closing his eyes he tried to calm himself enough to get some sleep. Wasn't like there was anything else he could do on the dumb cluster of rocks he'd grown tired of exploring.

"Hey Kid!" a voice called and he cracked open an eye, really hoping nothing weird was about to happen. He'd had enough of freaking weirdness, and it got weirder with that boy around.

Danny had honestly been expecting more that two weeks of being grounded after what Jazz had been calling there family excursion to the ghost-zone. His parents being convinced that it was him the ghost boy had carried off probably had something to do with that. He was still banned from entering the lab for at least another month though, after being found out for 'taking the speeder out for a joyride'.

Sam and Tucker hadn't gotten off so easily. They were both holed up at home, under close watch by their parents. Too close for even a ghost to pay them a visit, actually considering the circumstances, especially a ghost.

So Danny was stuck on his own, not that he minded for the time being, even if it made him feel terrible for his friends' sake. There was still something that would be easier to do by himself for now. It was the perfect time to start. His parents had gone to meet with Vlad about some new invention, and Jazz was out for the day as well. He wouldn't get a better chance for a while.

Before he left the house he filled an ordinary thermos with some instant soup. As far as his parents knew he was spending his day at the library without his friends to keep him company. They'd have a bit of a surprise when they checked there newly upgraded security system to find that the ghost-boy has broken into their lab to make use of their portal.

Not a half hour later he was nearing the place he'd last left the ghost kid, surprised he was able to find it at all. The Ghost-zone was a hard place to navigate when you had the speeders equipment, finding his way himself was suspiciously easy. Not that he was about to worry about that, he had to keep his mind on his mission.

"Hey Kid!" He called before he got to close, he didn't want to startle the already irritable ghost-kid.

One red eye peered up at him.

"I brought you something." He held out the thermos and shook it, making its contents slosh around.

That earned him a raised eyebrow. "Please don't tell me you actually brought soup." The kid groaned, sitting up. He took it and cautiously unscrewed the top. Danny almost laughed at the deadpan expression on his face. "Now I can really call you Soup-Boy."

"It was all I could think of, you seemed pretty keen on getting some last time, I figured it'd be SOUP-er heroic of me to get you some." The halfa grinned.

The kids expression didn't change, and for a moment Danny was worried that he'd screwed up, who knew what this ghosts triggers were, but then he heard a soft chuckle.

"I dunno. I did tell you not to BROTH-er with me."

"Was that a joke?" Danny asked?

In lieu of an answer the kid held inspected the thermos a little closer. "If this thing sucks me up Ima hurt you." He took a tentative sip.

"Yeah," Danny gave an uneasy chuckle. "I didn't know when last you'd eaten." He didn't mention that he wasn't even sure if real ghosts needed to eat.

"Thanks." The leaned back on his arms, turning his intense red eyes to the hero. "What are you doing here though? Planning on opening a wandering soup kitchen or somethin'?"

"Who knows, not that I'd need to wonder much, you're easy enough to find." Danny sat down next to the kid,

The kid almost looked like he was going to shoo him away, but just looked up at the infinite expanse of the Ghost-zone swirling above them.

"Maybe that's the point." He tugged off his had and began tugging on the bells, like he was trying to pull them off.

"What are you hoping finds you?" Danny asked.

"Real subtle." The kid droned. " Your interrogation technique could use some work."

"Hey I…" that un-heroic choking sound slipped out of Dannys throat. "That's not what I was doing. Why would I want to, I don't…"

"Cool it, jeez." The kid drank the rest of the soup and screwed the lid back on.

Danny took a moment to wonder where food went when ghosts ate, then shook the thought from his mind. "Don't you want to get out of here?" Danny asked.

"Don't think I wanna know what outta is." Something unidentifiable flickered across the kids face before his eyes slipped closed again. "This little rock's plenty eventful enough."

"Aren't you worried about falling off, you can't fly right." Danny said. "Except for right after Skulker."

"I'll figure it out if I have to." The kid said. "How did things go with your parents?"

"Grounded." Danny wasn't too happy with the change in subject, but didn't want to be called out again, what did a ghost-kid know about interrogation anyway? Not like he could've been the ghost of some detective or something. "They thought we took the speeder out for a spin."

"Sounds like fun." The kid mumbled, sinking lower. The bells on his hat jingled when they came into contact with the ground again. The kid let out an annoyed groan and threw the hat over the edge of the island.

"About what I expected", Danny muttered as he watched the hat disappear over the edge. The hero was beginning to suspect that in life the ghost kid had been forced to wear an embarrassing hat and that as a ghost it was his obsession. That was good, right? Knowing a ghosts obsession was a good way to start on figuring out how to help them. At least that's how it was on T.V. The kid behind him spat out a few soft curse words, startling Danny out of his thoughts.

The kid shot him a look that not too long ago would have made the hero shut up, but now only made him laugh harder. Danny ad to duck when the hat was thrown at him and tumbled over the edge again.

"Mind if I finish up my homework here?" Danny asked.

"I don't care what you do." The kid half growled. He pulled off the hat and used it as a pillow as he lied back and closed his eyes.

"At least it's useful for something." Danny snickered, earning him a glare from one cracked open red eye.

The kid muttered something that Danny was sure he was better off not hearing before settling down again. Danny sighed, and began trying to word an essay on a topic he knew nothing about while the kid slept. He knew nothing about helping ghosts, absolutely nothing and he'd never thought he'd ever regret it.

The boy cracked open a red eye to watch when Danny finally decided to get up and leave him alone.

He didn't know the other boy kept coming to visit him every day, and that bothered him. Everyone had an angle, even those you couldn't tell at first, even the heroes. Not knowing what someone wanted from you could be dangerous when there was no way of getting away from them.

At least the food was nice, there was never anything else to eat in the Land of Green Swirliness.

I have to start calling this place something else. He pushed his hair out of his eyes.

Was there even a real name for a place as strange as this one? He was sure he'd heard it called something else at one point. Information was important, he knew, though it was beginning to seem less so everyday.

There was a soft beeping. The boy didn't go still, didn't give any indication that he'd heard it at all. It was soft, but nearby, he sat up and cracked his back, a quick glance around hidden by a loud yawn. No visual of what ever it was, but it this wide open place where could it have been hidden? He had to fight against the urge to start looking around for whatever was making the noise.

The only things he'd seen so far that could have made such a digital sound were The Speeder and the ugly robot guy that he'd fought in his earliest memories. He didn't want to be near either of those things, but the idea of coming across something else new that could be even more dangerous wasn't something he liked. Sitting with his legs crossed and his face propped up on one palm, he tried to look bored, and expression he'd perfected as of late.

Whatever was making that sound, he didn't want to attract anymore of its attention.

After a few minutes the beeping got a little louder and he couldn't help but tense up, ready for a confrontation, but then the beeping grew softer again, eventually disappearing in the direction Danny had flown. Only then a sick feeling started building in his gut.

That kid thought he was a hero, and something had caught sight of him. Something that the red-eyed boy couldn't spot and could only hear, something that could be dangerous. He thought of the kid struggling with a simple essay and tried to imagine figuring out what that thing was, he couldn't. How many young vigilantes had been taken out by someone with more experience. Did the kid have someone watching out for him, anyone other than his friends who probably didn't even know where he was most of the time. Kids with no one watching out for them got hurt.

Thoughts of fire and shrapnel and loneliness and pain fought there way into his mind.

To heck with that. No little kid was going through something like that on his watch. He let his eyes drift to the path the kid had taken when he'd left, the same path that thing had followed. No way was he letting a little kid go through that.

Danny flopped down on his bed when he got home, wrapping his arms around his soft pillow. There was still homework he hadn't finished. Still chores he ad to do, but he was too comfortable to care. He'd gotten enough done that his parents would see at as an improvement anyway. His eyes hurt from staring at his computer screen as long as he had. The screen was still on, still opened on a page about his research, not that there was much to show for it.

Unsurprisingly there was very little information on ghost psychology floating around, and absolutely nothing that was at all helpful. His parents were probably the only ones who knew anything factual about ghosts at all, and even there research was unreliable.

The kid in the Ghost-Zone wasn't overly obsessive or violent, at least not after he'd calmed down. He'd been pretty relaxed every time Danny had seen him after the portal ghost incident, even if he'd looked a little bored.

His phone buzzed on his nightstand, like it had been doing since he'd gotten back from the Ghost-Zone. His friends had given up on calling when he'd told them both that e was tired and going to sleep. They'd chosen to send him texts so that he could experience their anger at a later time. Giving up on falling asleep with all the buzzing in his ears he scrolled through some of the texts before putting his phone on silent and stuffing it under his pillow.

Tomorrow he'd deal with it all. Now was sleep time.


	13. Chapter 13

Interesting.

He'd thought the boy would be interesting when he'd first seen him, but not to this extent.

Vlad Masters chewed on a piece of cheese as he watched over the new footage he'd gained. If he hadn't have known what to look for he would have sworn the boy hadn't noticed the danger at all. In all his excursions into the Ghost-Zone, Vlad had never seen another ghost with such a profile as that one. He behaved almost as though he wasn't a ghost at all.

A possibility had formed in Vlads mind, one that he knew to be childish and knew was probably incorrect, but investigating wouldn't hurt.

He'd send Skulker in seeing as the boy was near his territory. The worst that could happen was Vlad being wrong. He moved down to his lab to contact the hunter.

The kid still hadn't come by, and it had been around four days since the last time. Since the visits had started Danny hadn't been away for this long before. Before he'd noticed the kids tail he wouldn't have cared, would have actually been glad for the quiet.

For the third time that day a little poff tried to pick a fight with him and he had to keep himself from pounding it into nothing, he kicked it away from him hard enough that it flew out of sight. He hadn't minded too much dealing with the things before, but now he found himself being more and more frustrated with them.

This was why kids shouldn't be out playing hero. Why guardians should be doing better to keep their kids safe and protected. Now he was considering following the way he'd always seen the kid headed when he left. He wasn't sure if the kid was smart enough to double back and make a false trail, or he would actually be able to follow a line strait to Dannys home. He didn't want to know.

Carefully he climbed of the island and dropped the larger one below. Doing something to take his mind off it would help. He knew by seeing Dannys friends that normal people were somewhere around here. If he could find them then maybe he'd at the very least get some information about where he was. No information about your environment was dangerous.

The feeling that he'd never before been in an environment he knew nothing about troubled him a little. It was another headache inducing thought, so he found that he couldn't dwell on it too long. Eventually he knew he'd come to a situation where those headaches were going to be a problem, he just hoped that this wasn't it.

Since he could remember he'd tried to ignore as much of this place as he consciously could, despite his instinct to do otherwise. That hadn't been one of his best decisions, as strange as it was, he was still stuck there.

Another island was getting closer to where he was, he got ready to jump for it. His feet left the island, but never reached the other side. He was dazed and falling before he could register that he'd been hit, never mind figuring out what had done it.

When he hit the ground the breath was knocked out of his body, and he struggled to get up.

"Remember me?" Came a voice, followed by the boy being knocked of the edge again.

How far down could he go before he reached an actual ground? Before he could find out he was grabbed by his hair and sent tumbling over to another island. Before he'd stopped rolling loud, clunking footsteps stops right next to him. He was lifted again, this time by the fabric near the back of his neck. He lifted his head to look into his attackers face.

Oh, him again.

"Sorry, I don't have soup can to beat you with right now, come back a little later and I'll…" Before he could finish he was thrown to the ground and kept there by a heavy boot pressed down on his chest. He looked up at the things face and smirked as well as he could with a swollen jaw. "That a sore spot? Sorry, you probably had a few of those after that huh, ya freak?"

The boot pressed down harder on his chest. Mr. Ugly pointed his gun right in the boys face, for a second it looked like he would fire, but then he started laughing. The boy didn't like that laugh, not at all. With a quick twist he got the boot off for long enough to lift his leg and deliver a kick between its legs that should have knocked it over, even put it out of commission completely, but it barely gave the him enough time to get to his feet again, before he was lifted off them.

"Do you think a cheap…"

"Shut up!" The boy kicked at the things face with both feet.

The thing fell dropped to its back, the boy landing deliberately on it's face again. He didn't waste time with another kick, using the precious seconds to find a weapon, or anything he could use to his advantage against a bigger, stronger opponent.

"Some nerve, calling me the freak." It was up again, and moving forward. "You don't have that halfa whelp helping you now." He shot off a few beams from gun.

Those were freaking hard to dodge! The boy twisted out of the way fast enough to keep any from hitting him directly, but his cloths were still scorched by the time the barrage was over.

"Hey, I may not like these much, but his you ruin them any more, I might look as bad as you, back off." Instinct was telling him to jump of the edge of the cliff and wait for help, but he kicked that in the face even harder than he kicked The Ugly when he charged forward. Fast as he could he rained down blows on the thing, they hurt him more than it, but they kept it off balance, so he didn't let up.

It a fist his way and he ducked low, dropping to the ground and swerving around to kick its feet out from under it. As it fell he followed up with a punch to its face. When it got up this time, parts of its body were creaking oddly.

"You're lucky my boss said not to injure you." It said stepping forward.

The boy matter-of-factly wiped a trail of blood – the colour of which he ignored. "Sure," he drawled.

Mr. Ugly shot forward, almost tackling the boy over the edge, but he spring boarded of the things shoulders and it went over by itself.

He breathed a sigh of relief and dropped to a sitting position on the ground. If things like thins were going to keep happening he'd need to find some kind of defensible shelter, and some weapons. If he thought ignoring his situation had been a bad idea before, then he was sure of it now.

What if the next thing to drop in off an island did it in the emptier reasons where he wouldn't hit anything. Would anyone look for him if he fell for ever? Could even The Someone find him if that happened? Maybe the boy would just levitate in the air for a while if that happened. Almost everything could do that here, even the… oh no. Mr. Ugly could fly!

The boy rushed over to the edge his opponent had toppled over. He couldn't find see it. It wasn't laying on the visible islands, wasn't above him, wasn't anywhere. Too weak to even sit anymore he laid on the ground, looking up at the sky above him. He had to find a way to defend himself from these things and fast, very, very fast.

"Get out of there you idiot!" Vlad Masters hissed into his receiver. "Leave now!"

The hunter began what was probably a protest, but Vlad hung up on him before it got very far. He leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd wanted the boy kept within a small area of the Zone, not too on edge to move at all. It was a bad sign when things started going wrong in the very beginning of a plan. Especially one he didn't yet know the worth of.

The boy could prove to be worthless in the end, a complete waste of time. There were many ghosts who could match Skulker, it was proof of nothing. Now Vlad was faced with the options of either building a plan from the ground up, or dropping the thing entirely.

It would have been easier if he could have at least gotten some visuals of the fight, but the incompetent hunter had charged in too fast for even that chance.

If there was anyone else he could have used he would have, but Skulker was the only asset under his employ that could keep track of the boy. He'd have to go over his requirements again when the brute returned.

The Halfa returned to his other work in the mean time. He'd neglected too much in previous months.

"Bruce? Alfred?" A young man called walking through the large ornate doors of the manor. "Kid?"

No one answered, usually Alfred at least would come upstairs to welcome him home. He shrugged off the uncomfortable feeling and made strait for the kitchen, probably just working on some bid important case. As he pulled of his jacket his eyes swept over the counter where the paper was usually kept in the mornings, it wasn't there. He dropped the jacket on the counter and began digging through the fridge for anything that could pass for a late lunch.

His arms were full of condiments when his phone started ringing. Well, he maneuvered the phone to his ear and answered, doing his best not to drop everything. "Yello," he answered cheerfully.

"Dick, we've found a notice on the computer we want to confirm with you," Even for Raven that was a serious voice.

"Shoot," He said, and waved at Alfred who's appeared in the doorway.

"It's about your… the second one."

She told him, but it had to be some kind of mistake.

"Hey, Alfie?" The jar of sauce and his cell dropped to the floor.

"Master Richard?" The butler nodded."

"Where's the kid?"

The old mans face turned somber.

"Where's where is he? I was thinking the two of his could…" He didn't feel the hot liquid running down his cheeks. "I brought him something from Tamaran, and I was thinking we could…" a sob tore out of his throat. Do you think he'd… Where is he?"

Alfred didn't answer, but Dick needed to know. He wanted an answer. Why wouldn't Alfred say anything. Dick walked slowly to the entrance of the batcave. Kid, Jason, Jason was probably down there, working on his flips. Dick could help him with that, like Jason always asked, always with his false courage and Dick never had time.

He had time now, he'd help like he'd been planning to, he'd, Jason was in the cave. Jason was. Jason……….

Where was he?

Dick didn't make it to the cave, but his screams did.


	14. Chapter 14

Danny hurried to meet with the ghost kid, a pillow tucked under his arm. The kid hadn't been to happy when Danny had pointed out that he'd been using his hat as a pillow. After days of his parents being down in the basement, and ghosts popping up one after the other giving him hardly any time to rest.

What did ghosts in general do when they weren't attacking? Right now he only had one to worry about, not that he was too worried, if so many ghosts were in Amity then there were fewer in the Ghost-Zone bothering the kid. His grounding was almost up, he was hoping he'd be able to make some headway with the extra time he had.

When the kids island came into sight he'd been expecting to see the boy napping like he usually was when the hero came to visit, but instead found it empty. He raised an eyebrow, that wasn't a first.

He looked around some of the nearby islands. Danny had to push down the little bit of worry that popped up. It wasn't fair to think the kid was always in that spot, maybe he just waited there most days for Danny to show up.

The hero flew slowly through the few trees on one of the islands. If he couldn't fly there was a real limit to how far the kid could get on his own. The number of islands he could reach by flying didn't go very far. Maybe he'd figured out how to control that ghost skill? If that were the case Danny doubted the boy would have just disappeared, it was more likely he'd want to rub it in the other boys face.

He landed on the nearest island and looked down, what if the kid had fallen? Would his flight have kicked in and saved him? Danny hoped so as he began searching lower.

It was easy to say you'd make a plan when you woke up when you had no idea what situation you were in. This island was completely isolated, the ones beneath it were too far to drop to, and the ones on the same level were far enough away to look like specs. He couldn't reach those above.

He was trapped, exposed and helpless where he was. He hated this feeling, it made him think something worse was coming. Pain and smoke and blood were coming and there was nothing he could do about it. How long had he been there even? He couldn't remember, it was hard to think when your brain was numb from staring at the sky waiting for a fate you couldn't escape.

Did it even matter? He yawned, maybe he should sleep, he hadn't done that in a while. The clouds were weird, but they were nice to look at. Shaking his head he derailed that train of thought, that was why people needed sleep, but that Ugly ass thing was still out there and he didn't want to deal with that asleep, or sleep deprived either.

Why couldn't I have been stranded somewhere more normal?

Even an old leaky roofed building was better that this. He let out a breath and closed his eyes. Something that loud would probably wake him up anyway. There was a little voice in the distance, but he ignored it and fell asleep again.

Danny stood over the sleeping ghost kid with his arms crossed. Irritated that he'd worried about nothing, and relieved that he had nothing to worry about.

"Kid." Danny nudged the ghosts shoulder. "Hey kid wake up." He shook the sleeping boys shoulder, but he just batted the heroes hand away. "Look what I brought." He held out the pillow.

The ghost sat up with a yawn and gave Danny a half lidded glare. "What is it kid, 'm tired."

"You're tired? Every time I see you you're asleep. How did you even get down here?" Dannys eyes drifted around the island. Were those scorch marks? "What did you do?"

"Wasn't me." The kid got to his feet. "I don't do weird crap like that."

Danny wanted to tell The Kid how weird it was that he didn't do any of those things, but a conversation like that wouldn't have gone well. "So, how've you been, sorry I've been real busy lately."

The kid had the look he usually got on his face when he was about to say something sarcastic, but his eyes drifted somewhere behind the hero his expression changed to one Danny couldn't place.

"Busy with what?" the kid asked. "Anything new?"

"Just the usual." Danny turned and tried to find whatever the ghost was looking at, the only things there were the scorches and a few cracks. "But seriously, what happened here? Did you see anything?"

"You could say that." The kid still wasn't looking at him.

"Must have been intense, huh?" Danny held out the pillow again. "You okay?"

The ghost looked at the pillow strangely then, like someone had flipped a switch he smiled and took from the hero. "I'm fine."

"You shouldn't have come down here after that. They could have come back you know." Danny said with his arms crossed.

He thought he saw the kids eyebrow twitch. "I fell. There were some… some things happening where I was. I couldn't stay there."

"Stuff like what?" Now that he looked closely the kid did seem a tired, maybe even sick. Did ghost get sickness the way people could? "Sure you're okay?"

"Er…" The ghost scratched the back of his head, knocking off the hat, he didn't even notice. "Weird stuff. I swear the whole place was out to get me," he said with a chuckle. "Couldn't hold them off forever. I was hoping I'd be able to find somewhere to hide, but I couldn't get off this island after I, you know."

"Did something chase you off?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, something like that, anyway you should probably take off ya know, with those big hero things you're so busy with. Don't worry about me, I'll figure something out." The Kid was holding the pillow to his chest like it was a teddy bear.

"How long have things been bothering you like this?" Danny asked, a sick feeling building in his stomach.

"Since I got here." The kid scuffed his book on the ground.

"Why didn't you say anything?" The hero wanted to shake him.

"Thought it was normal." The kid shrugged. "Before that thing with your friends I thought it was just how people here said hello."

Danny felt like dirt. He was supposed to be a hero and he'd left a kid in a place he'd known was dangerous, even after he'd said he would help. Was that why the kid always slept when he was around? Did he not have any chance to otherwise? Now Danny felt like worse than dirt. It was like a guilt trip from Jazz ten times over.

"I'm sorry." Danny said. "I didn't think anything out here would hurt you."

"I said it was fine. Not like there's anything you can do about it. This whole place is dangerous, right?" The kid had picked up his hat, and was playing with the bells.

Was there anything he could do? As far as he knew there was nowhere in the Ghost-Zone that was safe. He couldn't stay here all the time, but the thought of leaving the kid alone made him want to throw up. It wasn't like he could just take the kid with him wherever he went either, or could he.

"Hey Kid, I think I know something that can help, but you have to promise to do everything I tell you. Okay?" Danny said. This ghost couldn't even fly, he was almost harmless.

It was ironic that the reason it was so easy to manipulate the kid was the reason the other boy was worried about him, when it made getting into a position where he could keep him out of trouble so easily. He hadn't heard the beeping in a while, but he knew the danger was still near.

It was an uncomfortable coincidence that Mr. Ugly had popped up right around the time as a lot of activity was keeping Danny busy. Someone had always said that there were no coincidences.

"Okay, so now my parents are normal people, and they really don't like people that come from here, so you cant let them see you, ever. Okay?" The kid was saying.

The other boy just nodded along. Being from an area people looked down in wasn't a new thing. He hadn't thought Danny would be stupid enough to take him right to his home, that he did was troubling. What if someone with bad motives tried the same thing? The kids naivety would have been amusing were it not such a serious problem.

Being flown past all the islands until there wasn't even one in sight was uncomfortable, very, very uncomfortable. If he was dropped here he was sure he'd keep falling forever. If he'd known where they were going exactly, had landmarks to keep track of, it would have been much easier to keep his mind off it.

He tried coming up with a plan for when he reached his destination, but again he had no information to work with. What was the area near where Danny lived like? Would his movement be even more constricted than it had been before, or was the terrain easy to navigate? Was it defensible, and if now could be made so, how? Would he be able to track down whoever it was that was a threat to the kid who wanted to be a hero?

He would have preferred convincing the kid to stop playing hero all together, but without information that was impossible. Going into a situation blind was a bad idea, but he was blind where he was too.

"We'll drop by Sams first though, she should be able to help us out. Tucker…" Danny gave his passenger a shake. "Are you listening? This is important."

"Sorry." The boy forced a yawn. "Tired."

"Just, don't freak out when the equipment goes off okay, we'll be through before it can do anything if we move fast. We're almost there, you ready?"

A part of him felt he should be more nervous about flying through the big swirling death vortex. The other part was just hoping that they got past whatever equipment the kids parents had set up. Oh well, as far as he could see it was the best solution for the both of them. As long as nothing went wrong at least.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

"What the #@!%!"


	15. Chapter 15

"What!? Hey Box Ghost!" Danny sped after the laughing blue ghost that had taken off with the kid. "Get back here!"

"YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME HALFA. IN THIS THE BOX GHOST WILL BE VICTORIOUS!"

The hero fired off some ecto-blast as he gave chase, needing to dodge slowed the ghost down, and Danny gained some ground, or air, well whatever the ghost zone was.

"I've almost gotcha Kid!" He reached out a hand to grab hold of the ghost who was again pulled just out of hid reach.

"NEVER!" The Box Ghost screamed and a few glowing boxes pummeled into the hero, who retaliated with some blasts of his own.

The Box Ghost made a sharp turn and one of the blasts hit the kids arm.

"Erg hey, careful with those!" The kid yelled along with more words Danny wouldn't repeat. "Let me go Box Ghost! What the heck!"

More boxes flew by, almost knocking Danny out of the sky, avoiding them slowed the hero down again, he really didn't have the time for the box ghosts games. If the kid hadn't been in the way Box Ghost would have been a pile of ectoplasmic goo in minutes. The hero sped up to his max.

Soon they were in an area of the Ghost-Zone that Danny wasn't sure he'd ever visited, a maze of densly packed doors and no sign of the ghosts. If the Box Ghost went into any of the doors it would take way past curfew to find them. By now his parents were already home.

"Put me the @#$% down!"

Or he could just follow the yelling.

"I'm coming!" Danny yelled and sped in that direction. The Box Ghost would really be in trouble if the kid wasn't okay.

"FEAR NOT YOUNG FRIEND. I THE BOX GHOST HAVE SAVED YOU!" The Box Ghost screamed right in the boys ear.

"Yeah that's great Boxy. Now put me the @#$% down! What are you doing?" He would have struggled, but there wasn't a ground for him to fall on. He was sure he was developing a fear of heights in this place.

"IF I HAD KNOWN YOU WERE A NEWGHOST I WOULD HAVE WARNED YOU EARLIER, THINGS LIKE THIS SHOULD NOT BE HIDDEN." The Box Ghost seemed to sense the boys discomfort and move him so he was piggybacking on the man.

"Known I was a what?" The boys fists dug into the glowing blue back. The boy caught sight of Danny weaving around the doors, he was still coming. How was he finding them in the maze?

"YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FLY ON YOUR OWN BY NOW, BUT YOU FRIEND EXPLAINED YOUR PROBLEM! I THE BOX GHOST WILL NOT JUDGE YOU!"

Well the Box Ghosts voice was pretty hard to miss. "Wait? What friend?" He asked.

"YOU WERE LUCKY TO HAVE THE BOX GHOST SO NEAR, I ALMOST DIDN'T TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY." He turned and launched some boxes at Danny who dodged pretty well.

Better than he dodges punches at least. A box came from behind and knocked Danny behind his head, then two more hit his back and chest. Spoke too soon.

The idea that someone claiming to be a friend of his had set this up was troubling, he had no friends that he knew of. The question of friends wasn't even one that brought on a headache. If they were trying to keep him and the kid separate, then he had no doubt's that the opposite was what he was going to make sure happened. First he had to find some information about this 'friend'.

"Listen, that's great and all, but need you tell me which one it was, so that I can say thanks."

"I DON'T KNOW. HE WAS BEEPING, WE'LL FIND HIM TOGETHER ONCE WE HAVE EVADED THE HALFA."

"Sounds good." The boy said, not having really heard much after 'beeping'. Box Ghost was still talking, but the boy found it hard to concentrate. His skin felt hot and breathing was hard. Why was there smoke everywhere, was that a motor bike he heard? He just wanted to give up, it hurt, but Someone was right there, just a little longer and he'd be there. Just had to hold on a little longer.

"Ba, B. Someone." He said. What if someone couldn't hear him, what if he didn't want to? He had the other one didn't he? But the other one was such a, such a… He wouldn't want a screw up, refused to even talk to him most times. It was getting dark, a sliver if light above his head closed off. So dark.

x

x

x

"Box Ghost! Give him back!" They were almost out of the door-maze. He could see both ghosts clearly now, and the kid didn't look good at all. His shoulders were shaking and he was holding on to the box ghost tightly, even with his hurt arm.

He was close enough to see the kids terrified face when a wall of boxes popped up to block Dannys way. Instead of flying around he blasted a hole in the wall, using all the pent up energy that he hadn't been able to send at the Box Ghost. His vision cleared and he saw the box ghost standing in front of another glowing blue box, this one with flecks of red shooting off it.

"HAHA, ONCE AGAIN I THE BOX GHOST HAVE BESTED YOU, PUNY HALFA." The box ghost held his arms proudly in front of the box. "EVEN IF YOU SOME HOW MANAGE TO DEFEAT ME, YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO REMOVE THE CHILD FROM THAT BOX WITHOUT MY HELP!"

Danny ignored the taunt and fired off blast after blast, pummeling the ghost with all he had. From experience he knew that the ghost terrorized human kids, but to do it those of his own kind as well. Even Skulker had been defending himself at first, probably hadn't noticed at first how young the kid was. The Box Ghost had nothing to gain by doing this, and Danny would make him pay.

He heard a thump from the box, taking his attention away from his target long enough for the Box Ghost to launch a counter attack. A barrage of smaller boxes smashed the hero into the box containing the kid.

"FEAR ME! FLEE AND BE GONE!" A semi circle of boxes hovered above and to the side of the ghost who stood with one hand in the air. "FOR I AM THE BOX GHOST!" he brought the hand down and boxes crashed into Danny much harder than anything the ghost had sent at him before.

The hero leaned against the big box for support. "Box Ghost." He said calmly. "That's enough. Open this and leave. I'm done with jokes, and you're the biggest one here."

The Box Ghost growled and attacked again, some of them hit, but that wasn't what the hero was focusing on. He gathered power in his hands as he approached. As he got nearer the box ghost got more and more anxious, backing away slowly. "Open it, now."

"NEVER!" The Box Ghost summoned up more boxes. "THEY'VE TOLD ME, THEY'VE TOLD ME WHAT YOU HAD PLANNED!"

"I don't care who told you what! I'm not letting you get away with this, now open it!" He held up one glowing green hand.

Thumping was heard from the big box again. The kid was probably terrified in there, but Danny did his best not to let the sound distract him. The box ghost looked between the hero's hand, and his box.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO REMOVE HIM FROM THE GHOST ZONE!"

Danny was tempted to test whether the ghost had been telling the truth about being able to open the box without him. "I don't have time for this." He was about to send the energy at the ghost, but then they heard a ripping sound, both of them turned to the box and saw the kid parting the green stained flaps.

Kid stood to his feet and peered over the edge, a dazed look in his eyes. He took off his hat and looked it over before dropping it over the edge. After watching it fall for a while he turned slowly to look at the other two.

"Yeah, cut the tough guy shtick you two, it really doesn't suit either of you." He pointed past Danny at the Box Ghost. "And you. What the heck? Don't you ever put me in a freaking box again. I freaking thought it was damn coffin. What the heck! Really?" The kid laughed, startling Danny and the Box Ghost into backing up. "Hey hero kid? We still blowing this dump? I don't think I can handle anymore of this place. Next thing I know a Vampires gonna come from hell and try eatin' my soul or somethin'."

Danny and the Box Ghost exchanged a look, both of there attacks dissipating.

The hero was reminded of the first time he'd net the kid, when he'd kept asking about soup. There was something in his eyes that was just different. Danny couldn't place it, but he didn't want the Ghost-Zone breaking the kid anymore than he already was. At least he looked okay.

"Yeah sure." Danny flew towards the other boy. The box was sending off more of those red sparks, and Danny flinched when one of them touched him, it didn't hurt, but it felt weird.

When they flew past the Box Ghost the kid waved goodbye with a cheerful, "Seeya Boxy."

The flight back to the portal was very uncomfortable, at least for Danny.

"There aren't really any creepy old vampires around here though? Right?" The kid asked.

"I've never seen any." Was the only answer Danny could think of.

"Great, because I don't think I could handle that." The kid crossed his arms and looked around curiously.

He almost looked like a kid again.

x

x

x

"Skulker, you failure!" A red-eyed man with sharpened teeth made other sharp turn as he paced, his blood-red cape swirling behind him. It took a few minutes to calm down, and when he did he sat on a large chair lifting a glass of red wine from the stand next to him and taking a drink.

The hunter stood near him, with his arms folded, feigning nonchalance. "You're the one who gave me such restrictive rules, there was no way I could have done my job that way. What is it about this kid that got you so worked up in the first place?"

"That is not the topic up for discussion. You're fortunate your failure has no far reaching consequences ." Vlad sighed.

"So you want me to keep an eye on him in the human world then?" Skulker asked.

"No, I've lost interest in this project, there are other things my time would be better focused on." The halfa stood and began walking out. "I'll contact you when I have need of your skills again. For now you're dismissed."

It was late, and even Vlad Masters had need of sleep. There were things to be done in the morning.


	16. Chapter 16

The Batman sat in his cave sifting through reports that he'd been ignoring for too long. Too focused on the Joker and the repercussions of what the mad man had done. The criminals of Gotham had been getting bold with the Batman's reduced presence on the streets.

Of too the side, slumped over a desk with an entirely different set of reports slept Nightwing. Alfred had probably slipped something in his coffee when he'd refused to take a break. Batman was tempted to cover the ex-Robin with a blanket, or carry him to bed as he'd done when the boy had been much smaller. He hesitated by his wards side, but kept walking.

There were criminals who would have to be scared off from causing more trouble for a while. There were more important things to be done than dealing with scum like them. His son needed him, and he'd put his morals first long enough. If a few criminals needed more broken bones to be kept off the streets a little longer then he'd break every arm in Blackgate.

There were more important things that needed to be dealt with.

Samantha Manson grumbled as she half crawled her way to her bedroom window. The feint green glow shining through the heavy drapes were all the indication she needed of who'd come to her house at such a late hour. According to her clock it had been only two hours since she'd gotten to sleep.

"Whatever it is had better be pretty good after you've practically ignored us for the past two weeks." She flung aside her curtain, recoiling at the sight of the bell-topped hat. After a moment she caught sight of Danny behind the ghost boy.

Her friend tapped the glass and after a minute of her not moving, fazed through the glass. He laid the ghost on her bed, the sleeping ghost. She breathed a sigh of relief and opened her mouth to speak. Danny held a finger to his lips, pointing at the ghost. She dragged her friend to her bathroom, and shut the door.

"How did he get out of the Ghost-Zone? Did he learn how to fly? What else can he do, What had he done?" She asked in a loud whisper.

"Relax, Sam. He hasn't done anything, I brought him out. I just need your help hiding him." He said waving his arms around.

"You want to hide him here?" She asked, her heart beating a little faster, mind already coming up with a million reasons why that was a bad idea.

"No, nothing like that. I was just thinking, he doesn't really act much like a ghost, does he?" He opened the door a little to point at the sleeping ghost other boy.

"That doesn't mean he's not dangerous Danny." She said with her hands on her hips.

"I know, I know, but that's not what I was getting at. He's probably more scared of us than we should be of him. He's just a kid Sam." He said.

"We're just kids, and look at we do, you especially." She pointed out.

"We're not a few months old Sam. Maybe the ghostly craziness only comes with age." Danny ran a hand through his snowy white hair. "Maybe if he had someone taking care of him he won't get that way. I think the Ghost-Zone was starting to get to him."

San sighed. There was no changing his mind when Danny had that look in his eyes. "If you don't want me to hide him, then what is it you want me to do?"

"Oh right, well, like I was saying, compared to all the others, he's not very ghostly. The only things about him that aren't normal are his outfit, and his skin, even that's not as glowey as usual."

There was a tinkling sound in the room, and when they check checked on the boy, they found that he'd rolled over and knocked his hat off the bed.

"When did you ever see a ghost sleep?" Danny asked.

"So what, you want me to give him a make over." She pinched the bridge of her nose and turned to get herself a glass of water. Too much stress, too early.

"Between you me and Tucker I was hoping we'd at least be able to come up with something." He said. "I was gonna go talk to him in the morning, you know how hard it is to get him up."

"Okay, say you manage to disguise the kid, then what. You cant hide him in your house with all the anti ghost things installed there." She asked, tapping a nail against her glass.

"I live in my house, we'll figure something out." A smirk flashed across his face before he turned and gave her his best puppy eyes. "Come on Sam, look at him, I couldn't just leave him there all by himself. He could have gotten hurt."

"He's a ghost, Danny, it's where he's supposed to be. Did you think that maybe not being there could hurt him? If it's true that he's so young, are you sure he's stable, what if he melts or something?" She asked, determined to iron out every aspect of her friends plan.

"I'll take him back if anything looks like it's going to go wrong." Danny said confidently, but he looked a little uncomfortable now. "You know, he pretty much saved my life when I first met him. I can't leave him all alone."

"Do you really think you can take care of a ghost Danny? It's not exactly a puppy." Sam asked.

"Sure I can, no problem." He said.

"Even if your parents find him?" She really didn't like seeing her friend so unsure of himself, but she didn't want him hurt even more later. The look on his face made her want to take it back and tell him that things would work out, but she knew she had to keep going. "One of the main reasons they're interested in Phantom is that he's so human like. You said yourself that this one is too, but unlike you he cant protect himself from them."

"I won't let anything happen to him, Sam. I'll keep him near me so I can get him out right away if something does happen." He was making an effort to be confident again.

"If you say so. Just be careful okay." She walked back into her room, and began rifling through her closet. It had been so long since she'd looked for…there.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked.

"Hold on, I've almost got it," She pulled a hoodie out the back of her closet. The thing was huge on her, so she'd never really worn it, only had it at all because it had been a gift. The actual hood was black with the rest being red. "This will hide him okay until for now." She gave Danny the hoodie. "Tell me and Tucker tomorrow, okay."

"Thanks Sam." He said with that goofy smile that told her he was being completely sincere.

He held the hoodie under his arm and picked up the sleeping ghost, "I'll see you tomorrow. Night Sam."

She watched him fly off until he wasn't in sight anymore, praying that nothing would go wrong.

The boy woke up, much to his surprise, in a bed. It was soft and warm, so different from the rocky ground he was used to that he was taken back. For a minute he remembered a bed, one even softer than this one, this thought he tried to hold onto for as long as he could before the headache pulled it away.

He heard movement near him and reluctantly opened his eyes, trying to prepare himself for what ever weirdness he'd gotten himself into as he cursed himself for falling asleep to begin with. The Danny had been talking about some dangerous equipment before, a chance to see it might have been useful later.

The room was light, and not tinted green, but actual yellow sunlight streaming in through a window. He stood and went to look out the window. Rows of houses, completely normal houses, with trees and fences and cars parked outside. There were some birds flying around, completely unlike the creepy kind he'd caught glimpses of before. Everything was normal.

He turned his attention to the room he was in. The bed, a computer sitting on a desk. Some NASA posters on the walls. There was a model of a rocket on one of the shelves. It was a kids room, a completely normal kids room. The only thing even remotely out of place was the rolled up sleeping bag in the corner. Just as he was starting to think the place he'd come from had been a dream, he heard a noise by the door, and a kid literally walked through it. With out opening the door, like he was a ghost, or an alien.

This boy had black hair, and his arms were full of packaged food, he looked up and, oh it was the kid. Just with a more normal color pallet and clothes. He wasn't glowing anymore either.

"Oh you're up." Danny said. "Thanks for not going out and causing trouble or anything." He dropped all the food on his bed. "I got some snacks so you don't need to go looking if I'm not around." He said with a smile. "Now that I'll be away a lot, it's just in case." He added.

"Er, thanks." The boy said distractedly.

"You okay?" Danny asked, "after yesterday and, well everything."

"'M cool. This place is…" He waved his hand at the window.

"It's pretty different compared to where you're from huh? I'm sorry if it freaked you out." Danny scratched the back of his head. "I was hoping we could go see Tucker today, but if you're not feeling up to it, we can put it off for now."

"No it's fine, I wouldn't mind seeing more of it, but uh, shouldn't you be at school?" There hadn't been any kids in the streets when he'd looked.

"Yeah, that's where we were going. My friends are still grounded, so it's the only place we can all meet to figure out what were going to do." Danny lifted a big red hoodie and some jeans off the back of his chair. "You can wear these over your usual clothes if you're still okay to go."

"Why over this?" The boy asked.

"Er, you didn't know?" Danny looked a little uncomfortable.

The boy shook his head making the bells jingle.

"Those clothes of yours probably don't come off, kinda like your hat, you know." Danny said.

"Great," The boy deadpanned and picked at the fabric of his terrible clothes.

"I'll wait for you out here okay, just knock softly when you're done. My parents are still home." Danny stepped through the closed door again, and the other boy was again hit by the feeling that he should have been more creeped out by that than he was.

He shook off the feeling and pulled on the clothes. The hoodie really was big. He pulled the black hood over the terrible hat, which he pushed a bit to the back of his head, it felt like it wasn't there anymore at all. The boy ran a hand through his hair and found that he couldn't feel the had at all, like it had disappeared altogether. Pulling down the hood to check was tempting, but he didn't want to risk the hood coming back. Getting the baggy jeans over his pointy shoes wasn't a problem either, but the blue fabric turned black.

The boy didn't think he'd ever been picky about clothes, but he was glad to be out of those.

He taped softly on the door. This wouldn't be so bad. At least there was no Mr. Ugly or any little blobs in sight. Dealing with some kids would be easy.


	17. Chapter 17

Danny peeked around the corner of the wall he and the kid had ducked behind, making sure the police car was out of sight. A quick look back and he saw the kid was still behind him. He didn't notice the ghost-boy staring at the sleeve of his hoodie like it had bitten him.

"Come on." The hero grabbed the kids arm and half dragged him around the corner with a sigh. This was taking much longer than he'd thought it would, and the kid dragging his feet along wasn't helping. At the rate they were going lunch would be long over by the time they got to the school.

"Err… Danny." The kid was poked the other boys shoulder.

It would be easier if they just flew, but he didn't want the kid to freak out when he saw the city from the air, not when just walking on the ground was being such a problem. Danny pulled the kid with him as he dashed down the street, hopefully none of the people he dashed passed had the time to do anything about it.

Behind him, the kid was staring at his sleeve again. "Danny." He tried to get the attention distracted boy, when he was distracted himself. The sleeve of his hoodie went limp, falling to his side – without his arm. "Wha!" He hurriedly picked it up and put it back around his arm where it belonged. "Danny!"

"What is it?" Danny asked, looking across the street. The school was only a block away.

"I think there's something wrong with these clothes." The boy said with what – if he'd known what to look for – Danny would have been able to tell was a hint of hysteria.

"You look fine, don't worry, hardly anyone's going to see you anyway." He reached out to grab the ghosts arm again, but ended up with only a hand full of his hoodie.

The kid backed away, leaving the clothing in Dannys hand, his red eyes glued to the fabric like he was expecting it to attack.

"We don't have time for this, Kid." Danny held the hoodie to the kid, who backed away as though Danny was holding out a poisonous snake. "You can take it off when we get back home, just put it back on."

The kid looked at the hoodie suspiciously, but threw it on anyway. Danny nodded approvingly and kept going. Just across the street from the school now, with enough time to talk things over with his friend before he had to hide the…

"Heck no!" The kid bumped into him from behind, then dragged Danny between himself and the pile of clothes on the floor.

"You cant just…"

"It wasn't me." The kid pointed at the pile. "It's possessed, it's…" A gust of wind made the clothes flutter a little an faster than Danny could see, the kid had thrown his hat at it. "It's just like it. It's the freaking clothes from hell, it belongs with that damned hat. Get me a match and I'll…"

"Kid calm down! They're just clothes, they cant do anything to you." Danny picked up the whole pile, including the hat and brought it over to the kid. "It's a little different than what you're used to, but they're not gonna hurt you. Here."

The kid took the pile and, but Danny could tell he was getting ready to run. After a minute the kid still hadn't moved. The hero rubbed his temples to preemptively calm the headache he knew was coming. The kid stood holding the clothes, Danny watched them slowly faze through the boys arms and pile was on the ground again, with the hat on the boys head.

"See!" The horrified kid backed away from the pile and towards Danny. "They're all evil, we should burn it, what if it spreads! Oh god."

"I told you to calm down. There really is nothing wrong with the clothes." Trying not to laugh, Danny picked up the hoodie with one hand and slowly, so he didn't frighten the kid more, he fazed his other hand through the fabric. "It's you, you're just fazing through it, it's okay."

"I don't do weird crap like that. That's never happened before." He still looked panicked, but not as much as before.

"It took me a while to get used to it too, okay, just relax." He gave the clothes back to the kid who put them on yet again. "It's something you can't do in the Gho… in the other place. You'll be fine."

The pout on the kids face made keeping a strait face impossible, Danny stated laughing and threw an arm around the kids shoulder when he tried to pull away. "I'm sorry, it's just," he had to pause to get some air into his lungs. "It's so great to be on the other side of that." The kid growled, his face tinted red, making Danny laugh harder. Even the glowing of the kids red eyes couldn't persuade Danny to stop laughing right up until they reached they'd reached the school.

Sam and Tucker sat at one of the trees farthest form the school building, waiting for their friend to show up.

"I don't think he understands how much trouble this could cause. Or he does and he thinks he can handle, just… Tucker you're not even paying attention to me right now." Sam groaned in frustration at Tucker, who was completely focused on some new game he'd gotten on his PDA.

"You've said it already, and like I said already. If Danny wants another pet ghost, then the best we can do is make sure he remembers to feed it." Tucker laughed and tapped away, this was a tough level, but the armor the final boss dropped was supposed to be worth the difficulty. It would have been much easier with another player to help, but Sam wasn't all that into gaming. The game over music played again, and he stuffed the device back into his pocket.

"I wish he weren't always so busy though." The techno geek picked up a leaf and began pulling it apart. "The super-hero thing is cool and all but…"

"Yeah," Sam looked up at the sunlight shining through the trees.

Out the corner of his eye Tucker saw two figures approaching. "Here they come." He stood up and dusted the grass off his pants. "What took so long?" He asked in greeting. "You said it you'd only be a few minutes.

"We had a little problem." Danny snickered.

The kid standing a little behind him pulled the hoodie lower over his face, how did a ghost blush?

Tucker pushed the question aside and held out a hand. "We never really had a chance to meet, names Tucker." The ghost-kid shook his hand slowly. "This here is a handshake it's how we say hello."

"Don't make me punch you again." The kid said, but he didn't look as uncomfortable anymore.

"You won't get me that easy this time." Tucker got into a martial arts pose he'd seen on T.V, ignoring Dannys frantic gesturing for him to stop.

The ghost kid started laughing, "What, you see that in a video game? That wouldn't take long to push over."

"You'd think that, but that's before I used my own super-power." Tucker said with a grin.

"Really, and what's that?" The kid asked, looking way more confident than he had before.

Tucker struck a dramatic pose, one hand on his hip, pointing with the other at the ghost-kid. "I don't think you could handle it."

"Tucker." Sam said, "It's not a good idea to be picking fight with this guy."

"Try me." The kid said, his grin a copy of Tuckers, like he knew exactly what the other boy was getting at."

"We'll you asked for it." The geek adjusted his glasses, then his orange barrette he walked confidently to the other boy. He pulled his PDA out of his pocket as he walked. "I'll beat you," the screen flickered to life, "with," he raised the device to the ghosts face, "science!" The game music started blaring from the little speakers. "I challenge you to try beating my high score! If you dare!"

Tucker held the pose, standing dangerously in the kids personal space.

"Uhh, sure kid." The ghost backed away a little, pulling the sleeve of his hoodie back into place.

"Great!" The schools bell shrieked that lunch was over before Tucker could say anything about the intangibility of a supposedly powerless kid, it wasn't important. "I'd love to see how Dannys gonna hide you during school hours," he chuckled, "but I gotta go. Seeya Danny, and er… What was your name again?"

The kid shoved his hands in his pockets. "I don't care what you call me." He shrugged dismissively.

"Right, so you wouldn't mind Pidiay, then wouldja?" Tucker grinned cheekily.

"Except that." The kid frowned.

"How about Pointy?" He pulled down the hood and flicked one on the bells on the kids hat.

"Don't you have to get to class?" The kid asked.

"It'll be there in five minutes. Hey didn't you have a J on your chest?" Tucker asked.

"What is it with you and my clothes?" The kid pulled the hood back up, hiding the hat.

"Tucker, if they find out you're late your parents are gonna reground you." Danny said calmly, but waving his hands in a way that wasn't calm at all.

"Okay, okay, sheesh. Seeya around Red Hoodie guy." Tucker waved and walked away. He didn't get why Danny and Sam were so worried, that guy wasn't dangerous.

"Hey Tucker." The kid called. "Just Red's fine."

"Haha!" Tucker turned and gave a thumbs up before hurrying off.

Danny waited for Tucker to be gone before turning to the kid. "You're really okay with you're name being Rd Hoodie Guy?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, it's an old family name." The kid snorted like he was offended.

Danny wondered how societies those societies where kids named themselves functioned. "Sure, whatever Red." He started walking around the school. He fazed himself and the kid, Red through the library wall. "Think you can stay here and keep out of sight until schools out?"

Red was looking around, taking in the empty room. "I think I can try."

"People hardly ever come to this section, so it shouldn't be too hard I'll seeya in a few hours okay, behave." Danny rushed through the halls to get to class as fast as he could without using his ghost powers. It'd be fine the kid had stayed in one place when he'd been alone in the Ghost-Zone, chances were he'd be able to do the same alone in the human world.

In the highest security room, in what was probably the highest security asylum in the world, the sound of a bone breaking bounced around the walls, punctuated by pained laughter.

"What a welcome." A green haired man cuffed to a chair chuckled. "Wasn't expecting to see you so soon. What, the old man needed you to fill in for the other one." More terrible laughter erupted from his red lips.

"Shut up!" A young man dressed in red and black grabbed a fist full of the Jokers shirt and punched him in the face. "You talk when I tell you to, you say, what I want you to say. Now tell me what you did to him!"

"Aw, he didn't give you the details, don't worry, your Uncle Jay will fill you in. You want me to start with sounds, how many of his bones were still in place? It wasn't a lot I'll tell you that. Little brute spat me in my face if you can believe it! The nerve of…" Another punch shut him up for a few seconds, before his laughter began anew.

"That's not what I mean, and you know it!" Nightwing hit him a few more times.

"Haha, the last part was so uninventive though, not nearly as interesting as the rest. I wasn't there though so I cant be sure, I would have loved to see his little face when the…!"

Nightwing smashed the mad mans face into the table, hearing the satisfying sound of his long nose breaking.

"Aww, that not it either?" Joker pouted. "What is it then? Wanna hear about how he cried after he was too distracted to look tough anymore. Crying his little tears for the bog man to come save him, even called for his father. I'm wondering if they're the same person now." He laughed harder when Nightwing hit him again. "Wanna know what really takes the cake here though?" He said more softly. "Daddy was the only one he called for. Seeing as you're here and not the dark night himself, I find it funny that the little brat didn't once call for his big brother. Wonder why that is, don't you."

Nightwing stood silent for a moment, a stricken look on his face that soon morphed into fury. Even knowing the Joker had to be lying, there was no way his Little Wing would cry for any ones help, he'd been too strong for that, hadn't he. Wouldn't he have known that Nightwing would have saved him if he could? The ex-Robin pulled out his escrima sticks and turned up there voltage.

The oxygenated smell of electrocution accompanied the sound of laughter this time.

"Shut up!" Nightwing screamed over the sound.

"Talk," the joker wheezed, " shut up. Make up … your mind already."

"Tell me where he is!" Nightwing shouted. He pushed both sticks against the clowns ears, activating the electricity like that would have killed anyone in the clowns position.

"Daddy didn't tell you? Not like I tried very hard to hide it." He looked somewhere behind the black and blue clad hero. "Did I Batsy?"

Nightwing felt a presence behind him and turned quickly to see the Dark Night of Gotham himself in the room.

"This won't solve anything Nightwing, let's go." Batman said.

"This is the only way we'll figure anything out." Nightwing said. "You said yourself we didn't have enough data!"

"Killing him won't get us anymore." His mentor turned to leave.

"What's this?" The jokers words make the dark night pause. "Little birdies not even cold in his gave and you're already putting the bad guys away, what dedication, who'd o thunk it, amiright?"

"He really doesn't know?" Nightwing asked Batman, who just shook his head and left.

It was the Jokers turn to be answered with laughter, as the younger vigilante followed his mentor out the room he stopped next to the Joker. "Did you really think," Nightwing said as he leaned in close to the clown, "that if he were dead, you'd still be alive?"

With that the original dynamic duo were gone, there was still work to be done far from the disgusting creature in that room.


	18. Chapter 18

"I don't have time for this!" Danny ducked away from another of Valerys shots. "Do we really have to do this every time we see each other?"

"Quiet Ghost-Kid!" She kept firing as she groaned in frustration. "And stay still!"

Danny shot her hover-board and laughed when it began spinning out of control, he checked to make sure she landed safely before waving and flying off laughing a little harder as her screams of his villainy followed him. Fighting off ghosts was both harder and easier with her around, and he couldn't bring himself to be mad at her, even if that one shot had almost blown his arm off. Would those grow back if he lost the in his ghost form? He hoped so, but wasn't gong to be testing that theory any time soon.

He changed back to his human form a block away from Tuckers house and began walking the rest of the way. It was a nice day out, the sun shining over Amity Park, only one fairly week ghost had shown up earlier, so the only thing keeping his Saturday from being peaceful so far had been the fight with Valery. The young hero enjoyed the peaceful walk as much as he could. Slowly making his way to his best friend's house where he'd left to deal with the candy ghost that had popped up.

Walking under Tuckers house he could already hear the kid from the Ghost-Zone complaining. Danny grinned as he knocked on the front door, delaying the inevitable by not flying strait to the room.

"Hello Danny." Tuckers mom answered the door with a smile. "I didn't even notice you'd left." She said stepping aside to let him in.

"Oh, just my folks called me to take care of some chores I forgot this morning." He said sheepishly.

"Tuckers still in his room, with Sam and your new friend." She said heading back to the kitchen. "Tell him to let me know if you kids want some snacks."

"Will do, thanks Misses F." Danny went up the stairs and heard the kid before he even made it down the hall.

"Aren't you done yet?"

"Sit still, you're going to mess it up."

"How long can this possibly take?"

"Longer if you don't sit still, but if Tucker were helping…"

"Don't involve me in this, I tried the goth thing once remember, you to can play with makeup alone if you want."

Danny opened the door to find his friends just like he'd left them, trying to make Red look human. While the hero had seen ghosts like Jonny Thirteen who could make there ghostly auras disappear at will, that wasn't something the ghost-kid had been able to do. They'd found a failed version of the anti-ghost foam that would disguise the kids glow, there was just a little problem.

"Again?!" Sam complained. "Come on, we just need half an hour."

Red studied the green puddle on the floor that had grown noticeably since Danny had seen it last. "Is this really necessary?" The ghosts face was blank when he looked at the hero.

"If you don't want Val and my folks shooting you on sight." Danny said.

The ghost groaned and pulled his hat over his face, after a second he noticed what he was doing and threw the hat out of the window.

"I still don't get what you have against it, it's just a hat." Tucker said smirking.

"It's possessed." Red said matter-of-factly, tugging up his hood. He looked down at his white gloved hand. It had been easy to keep his hands in the goop for long enough that it wasn't glowing anymore, but the rest on his refused to remain tangible long enough for it to work. "This is never going to work."

"Sure it will." Sam pulled the hood down and began covering the ghost boys face in the green goop again. "Stay still." She said with a smirk that said that she was clearly enjoying the ghosts discomfort. "By the way, we still need another name, you can't really go by Red Hoodie, it doesn't have to be your real…"

"Todd," the ghost said petulantly, His eyes flicked between the three kids in the room and he tensed up in a way that Danny was already starting to get used to after the few days since he'd taken the kid from the Ghost-Zone.

"If you say so, looks a bit better on paper, even if it doesn't suit you too well." Sam said.

"Yeah, we should call you something cool. If I could pick my own name, it would be epic." Tucker said.

"Like what?" The ghost was sitting dead - no pun intended – still, like it would keep him from phasing off the stuff on his face.

"Like Destroyer Foley, or Emperor Foley." The nerd said, he ignored the laughs of the others in the room and carried on, "Terminator Foley, Hercules Foley…"

"Yeah, don't think those would work kid." Red looked like he wanted to shake his head.

"Not for you maybe, but someone like me could pull it off." Tucker said leaning dangerously in his chair. "Not everyone can be as…" There was a loud clang as he tipped off the chair and crashed into his desk.

"How about Tucker FALLey." Danny laughed, earning him a glare from his best friend.

"Whatever." The geek pouted and went back to typing on his computer, "you're lucky I don't change your name to that."

"I doubt a kid like you has the skill to really do something like that." Red said, his face skewed in concentration.

"Oh and I bet you could?" Tucker said rolling his eyes.

"Aha." Red drawled distractedly.

"Psh, get real, sometimes it's like you think you're some kinda secret agent or something." Tucker clicked a few times and hit printer spat out a few pages, he plucked one from the pile and looked it over. "Good enough to look like a copy at least." He set it down.

"Great, thanks Tuck, Sam." Danny said patting his friend on the shoulder.

"You'd be totally useless on your own." Sam said. "Hey, only a few minutes to g…"

"Darnit!" Red threw up his arms and face planted into the desk he was sitting near. The ghost belted out some words that were thankfully too muffled to here before lifting his head and leaning it in the palm of one hand, his expression blank. "This is never going to work, there's no way your school security can be that bad."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I can't believe your school security is this bad." Red said with a frown. "How is it still running?" What he knew of schools was lots of paperwork, and lots of money being thrown around to push the paperwork through. That all it took was an obviously fake birth certificate to get in was worrying, even if it was convenient for the time being.

"You kidding, you should have seen who they hired as teen therapist last year, this was nothing." Sam said.

He shook his head and looked down at the schedule he'd been given, the name Todd Reed printed neatly in the corner. Hoe he was even standing there made about as much sense as the place he'd come from, so he memorized the days schedule and shoved his hands in his pockets, resolving to deal with it the same way – by not thinking about it too much.

"Don't forget to show him where his locker is Mister Fenton." The principal nearly gave him a heart attack when she poked her head out of her office.

"I will, Principal Ishiyama." Danny said dragging the other boy away by the strap of his backpack. "Er, what number is your locker?"

Red felt like an idiot when the ringing of the school bell made him jump, he had the feeling that somewhere there was someone very disappointed in him.

"You okay?" Danny asked.

"I'm fine." Red adjusted the straps of his plain green backpack and resolved to be more observant of his surroundings. "I'm still not sure why I have to be here though. I hate school."

"You don't know that, have you ever been?" Danny asked.

"Of course I have!" Red sighed, "Can we just get this over with."

"You're gonna get in trouble if you don't calm down, sheesh kid." Danny turned a corner with Red following close behind. He tapped the locker. "The jocks here are gonna go into a frenzy when they find out there's fresh meat." He turned to look at the other boy and his face fell. "Oh no."

"What now?" Red asked already having an idea.

"Yeah, what now Fentoad?" A cocky voice came from behind the red eyed boy.

"Shouldn't you be in class, Dash?" Danny said.

"Hall pass." Red caught a glimpse of a slip of paper out the corner of his eye. "I wanted to meet the new freak you're hanging around, give him a proper welcome."

Yeah sure he did. Red turned his head just enough to make out the size of the kid behind him, tall, muscular, a sport jacket. "Yeah, I'm not in the mood blondie, go run across a field or something."

"What did you just say to me?" Dash balled one hand into a fist and hit the other threateningly. It wasn't as threatening as the jock probably thought it would be.

"What? You got dirt up your ear or something, maybe you should get that checked out, I think it's filled up your head as well." Red said, keeping his face blank.

"You…!" The jock growled, picking red up by the front of his hoodie. "Look at that, you really are a freak." He laughed

"Sure, real clever kid." Red patted the taller boys head. "I'm sure mommy's real glad to have such a clever boy."

"See you try to talk when you don't have a face!" Dash pulled back one large fist and swung it for the smaller boy.

Red quickly twisted out of his grip, dropping to the ground in a crouch he stuck out one leg and spun around, knocking the jocks feet out from under him. Five seconds later the jock was still too shocked to move. Red bent over him and nudged his head to the side.

"You okay there? Jeez you don't look so good, need me to help you find the nurse? I just got here myself, but you know, brains." Red stuck his hands back in his pockets.

"What?! Red, what did you…? Argh." Danny groaned, scrapping a hand across his face. He grabbed the other boys backpack and dragged him away.

"I'll get you for that, freak." Dashes voice followed them as they entered the classroom.

Sam and Tucker were both there already, and Red just shrugged at the identical exasperated looks they sent, jeez it was like a they had some kind of creepy mind link going on there.

"Late again, Mister Fenton." The overweight teacher turned away from the board, setting down the only piece of chalk, to greet them. "And who's this?"

"Sorry Mister Lancer." Danny said. "I was just showing Todd here his locker, he's new."

"I see, Todd, was it," He addressed Red.

"Sup." He raised a hand in greeting. It felt wrong being called that, but at the same time familiar, like it was something people only called him when he was in trouble or something.

"Yes, sup as you kids say, would you be so kind as to introduce yourself to the class Mister…"

"Reed." Danny said.

"Right, Mister Reed." Lancer gestured to the front of the class. "And tell us all something about yourself.

Red shrugged and walked to the front of the quiet class. "Todd Reed everyone." He pointed at himself with his thumb, he smirked as an idea came to his mind and he heard the thump of Danny smashing his head into his desk. "Anyone wanna see a magic trick?" Huh, a few idiots actually put there hands up. He grinned wider and picked up a piece of chalk, already knowing that this was a really bad idea that could go horribly wrong.

He held the chalk so the whole class could see it, he closed the chalk up in a fist and raised his arm high. He turned his hand intangible, dropping the piece of chalk into his one sleeve and sliding it to the other, catching it with the hand that was still in his pocket. He opened the now empty hand and some of the kids gasped when they saw it was gone, another jacket wearing jock and a few others scowled, whatever.

"Yes, that was an interesting trick, Mister Reed." Lancer clapped softly. "Take the seat at the back there," He pointed to an empty seat. "You'll have to put down your hoodie while class is in session."

Red gave him back the piece of chalk along with a fake note he'd also shown at the office. He grinned at Dannys scowl when he walked past the other boy, grateful that his seat was on the other side of the classroom. Wasn't like he cared about the school beyond being able to keep an eye on the little hero boy. He didn't even have to be there to do it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"How far along are we with the calculations Babs?"

"Around 48%.

"You sure it'll work when were done?"

"We'll have to wait and see."

"He's not gonna like that."

"He'll come around."

"I trust you, Nightwing out."


	19. Chapter 19

**Better formatting I hope.**

 **...**

"What was that?" Danny asked, tugging on Red's shoulder as the other boy left lancers class.

"A magic trick?" Red the boy replied with a raised eyebrow. "A pretty dumb one too."

"No, before that in the hallway, but we can talk about you magic trick too. Do you understand how much trouble you'd be in if people knew you could do things like that? And do you want to be expelled on your..." Danny caught himself as a new terrifying thought came to his mind. "You're making me sound just like my sister!"

"Smart sister." Red mumbled.

"What happened in the hallway?" Sam asked, her an Tucker coming up behind Red and Danny.

Red deflated a little at Danny's glare. "I was just saying hello?"

"Argh" Danny felt like pulling his hair out when Tucker started laughing, making Red smirk. "You said you'd listen to me if I brought you here." He glared accusingly at the ghost-boy.

"Listen, I'm sorry okay. Didn't know it was such a big deal. After that," Red jerked his thumb in the general direction of the class, "that guy'll never admit I owned him this morning." He tugged his hood a little lower. "No problem." His eyes flickered around the hall like he was looking for something and he turned the wrong corner.

"Hey next class is this way, Red." Tucker caught the ghosts backpack.

"Oh, right." Red said.

"Wait!" Danny pushed the ghost back around the corner as Valery came running past, obviously late again.

"Hey isn't that...?" Red poked his head back around the corner, but Danny pushed him back.

"Quiet." Danny shushed. Sam rolled her eyes and dragged Tucker with her to class.

"Shoulda guessed she went to your school." Red pulled out his schedule. "How many classes?"

"Two I know of." Danny marked the classes with the offered pen, mentally kicking himself for forgetting that Red and Danny had already. "You really need to keep a low..."

"Yeah I got it boss." Red stuffed the pen and paper back in his pockets along with his hands.

"Just stay out of trouble." Danny said, he really had too much to worry about already, with some teacher screaming that there was a... Danny sighed.

"Sounds like someone beat me to it, that something you gotta take care of?" Red asked.

"Stay here." Danny said, getting a sloppy salute in response.

Red watched the other boy rush down the hall. He wondered for a moment if he should try helping but (beep). Yeah the irritating noise seemed just a little more important.

.

.

.

It would have been better for Batman to go. Dick knew, Barbara knee, Bruce definitely knew. Batman had even started the project with the intention of going. He'd wanted to go, as much as the Dark Knight ever wanted things. What they all knew, but no one said, was that Nightwing needed to go. It was the only way to push down the guilt that had nearly crushed him when he'd thought...

The calculations were incomplete, they all knew that too, but only Barbara said anything about it.

"Be honest here, how much is this going to hurt?" Dick asked while Alfred tightened some of the on the new, heavily armoured Nightwing suit.

"There's no way of knowing now." Bruce didn't look up from where he was finishing preparations in front of the bat computer.

"It wouldn't hurt at all if you'd just wait a few more days." Barbara's voice came through the speakers, the former Batgirl's face popping up on one of the screens angled away from Batman. "You could have done a better jib of convincing him to wait, Bruce."

Truth was Bruce hadn't even really tried talking Dick into waiting. When he'd seen how long the calculations were taking he'd stepped up to help, but hadn't done more than explain the risks of moving too soon when they'd started running out of time.

"We only have a week left to find him, Babs," Dick smiled apologetically. "Anymore time and we might loose him forever."

"Even one more day, just to look things over." She tried.

"I'll be fine." Nightwing slipped on the faceplate. " We know it won't kill me and that's enough. I can handle a little pain, compared to him this'll be nothing."

"Regardless, Master Richard, it might have helped us all sleep a little easier tonight," he cast a sideways glance at Bruce, "those of us that do sleep at least, if it were dealt with by someone with more experience."

"I'll manage Alfie, I have plenty experience with this sort of thing." Dick knew Alfred wasn't talking about missions.

"Boot up complete." Bruce said. "Get into position."

Nightwing nodded an stepped onto a circular platform just big enough for him to fit when a clear plastic tube walled him in.

"This is the last time I'll ask if you're sure you want to do this." Bruce said, his finger hovering above the launch switch.

No, he wasn't sure, bit he knew that if he didn't go, he wouldn't have forgiven himself. This was the only way he'd ever prove to both himself and Jason that he was willing to be there. So he nodded, glad for the mask covering his face.

"Gotham needs you, and we'll be back as soon as we can."

"You have at most a week." Batman said. "Contact me if there's any complication."

That was as much of an 'I'll be there if you need me', as Dick had gotten from Bruce since he'd first left Gotham, it calmed Nightwing more than any of the pep talks he could have given himself.

"Place can't be that big, even without the tracer I'll find him in no time." Nightwing said, forcing as much false cheer into his voice as he could.

Batman flipped the switch.

Nightwing didn't remember if he screamed, but when he opens his eyes, he knows that it's either worked, or he's having a really trippy coma dream. He also knows that without the tracer he's have no chance of finding Jason, so he needs to move as fast as he can.

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.

Red's cursing got him a glare from some red haired girl when he looked under a table in the library and found nothing that could be causing that freaking annoying beeping noise.

The sound got louder, not by much, but enough to make him very nervous. He peered between books, searched corners, even looked behind the blinds, but still found nothing, and it was leaving him feeling like something was about to explode. (Beep). A glimpse out the window told him that Danny was still busy chasing after glowey green bugs - there went the normalcy he'd thought this place had.

It didn't look like he needed help, so Red decided to keep looking for the (Beep) for that.

He stomped out of the library and the sound didn't get any softer until it stopped as fast as it had started in the first place. Red sighed and raked a hand through his hair. A bug came close and he waved it off, he'd seen what the things had done to some of the other kids in he school, and he already had enough trouble falling through he floors without them making it worse.

The bug moved on and set down on the blonde jock from earlier.

"Crap." Red watched the guy run for he bathroom as his skin turned a little green. He had a feeling that wasn't going to end well, so he followed after the other other boy and tapped on the only occupied stall, wincing a little at he gagging he heard inside.

"I don't feel so good." The door opened, showing the boy had shakily gotten to his feet.

"Hey, how about I...?" Red's offer of help was cut of by a beam of energy to his face.

"You!" Dash picked Red up and threw him into the wall on the opposite side of the bathroom so hard he cracked some of the tiles.

Red groaned as he got back to his feet, leaning against the wall with one hand.

Red pointed a finger at the boy that had somehow turned into a monster. There went staying out of trouble. "Listen you price of..." Red's other arm chose that moment to go intangible, making his head smack into the wall, knocking loose a few of the cracked tiles. The sound echoed through the bathroom, and Red heard a scream from the hallway. Whether that was from the bugs of the disembodied hand he had no idea.

Dash lifted Red off the ground again, earning himself a foot to the face. Red kicked off and flipped to land back on his feet. He drew back a fist, only to be shocked out of his attack by the other boy turning back to normal and and collapsing.

The had on his head chimed and red smacked it off as he pulled his hood back up. He bent I've the jock and checked for a pulse, relieve to find it strong under his fingers. All it took was a little shake and the blonds eyes opened.

"What?" Dash groaned holding a hand to his head.

"Come on." Red helped the other boy to his feet. "I'll help you to the nurses office.

A part of Red wanted to leave the jock to pull himself off the ground, but another part knew that helping was right, and would make Someone proud of him.

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.

.

Two dimensions away someone was looking at a red and gold uniform, a warm feeling he couldn't explain tugging at his chest.


	20. Chapter 20

"Will you be my friend?"

"No!" Nightwing slammed the door to the frozen door with the clingy creep behind it. "Note to self, never go in one of those again unless you have to." He said, clutching his armored chest in the hope of calming his rapidly beating heart.

A compartment on his wrist beeped and with the flip of a switch the words Chemical Analysis Complete flashed across the tiny screen. Nightwing studied the numbers and letters detailing the chemical composition of the air around him: Similar enough to Earth that it was breathable, but with an unidentified element that looked to e somewhat radioactive.

Dick groaned. That mean he'd have to keep on the stuffy helmet, he'd had enough of helmets on his space mission to last a lifetime. His inner grumbling was quieted when he remembered that Jason hadn't had a helmet to begin with. Nightwing added the chemical report to the data pack he'd by sending or Batman at the end of the day, along with a note to develop some kind of treatment for any negative effects.

Something white and fluffy looking floated by his head. Dick sped up a little to snap a picture of the little poff, not because it may have been important, not because it looked like a marshmallow with eyes. Afterwards the poff started spinning in circles, probably disoriented by the flash. Dick laughed at the funny look it shot him as it entered another floating door.

Dick floated up to the door and gripped the handle, steeling himself before quickly yanking it open.

"I want to go to the ball!"

He definitely did not let out a manly scream before slamming the door on the weird glowing girl. Really hoped Jason wasn't in one of these doors.

"Wonder how your sanity's doing in here Littlewing." Nightwing unclipped from his belt the little monitor that was trying to trace Robin's signal, it wasn't as useful as he'd hoped it would be. He needed to find someone sane enough to answer questions. The floating school at least looked more promising than the doors.

Red peered out from his hiding place under a bed when some other kid was placed on a bed next to it. The doctor paused for a moment near Red, but shrugged and left. When the man was gone, Red turned his attention to the kid on the other bed. Green skinned and dripping acid, weird, but not the weirdest thing he'd seen. The hat chimed in agreement, and Red pulled it off with a groan.

He'd lost his hoodie slipping away from the creepy doctor that definitely didn't have a license. His eyes moved between the hat and the growing puddle of acid in front of him. One of the machines in the hospital beeped, Red was surprised it had any working equipment at all.

Carefully, and first making sure the doctor really was gone, Red crept out of his hiding place. He crouched in front of the acid and slowly began lowering the hat into it. There was a beep and Red started, dropping the hat into the acid with a little splash.

Thump, thump, thump.

A quick look around the room told him that the sound wasn't coming from some kid turned monster. It got louder and Red went up to the overly large air vent to have a look, he backed away quickly and covered his mouth, fighting the urge to gag.

Whatever was in the vents smelled enough like a monster, a sweaty, chilli covered monster that was getting closer and closer. Red backed up further, looking around for anything that could be used as a weapon. There was a loud Thump, followed by a yelp, and a shadow tumbled out of the vent.

It was just Danny's friend Tucker.

"What the heck are you doing in this hosp..."

"Don't say it man." Tucker said, covering Red's mouth with one sweaty hand.

"Don't say what?" Red batted the hand away.

Tucker just shook his head an threw some bundled up fabric at the other boy. "Found you a present."

His hoodie, Red caught the fabric an greatfully pulled it over his other bizarre clothes. "That still doesn't tell me what..."

"I'm here to help Danny okay." Tucker said, moving back to the vents.

Red slipped into Tue tight space before Tucker, kid would get himself killed going through this place alone.

"What's wrong with Danny? Listen, you're smart and all, but I doubt you could do much about this." Red swept his hand in a way that indicated the whole hospital.

"Aha, well that's where you're wrong." Tucker twisted awkwardly to pull out a can of deodorant. "It's called Foley, by Tucker Foley." At Red's bemused look the other boy explained further. "It's like ghost-bug spray."

"Cool, so you spray it though the hospital vents and... What's wrong now?" Red asked the boy who was shaking like he had an evil clown staring him down.

"You just had to say it." Tucker moaned, huffing himself.

"Say what?" Red asked. "There something I don't know?" Red face palmed. "Your afraid of the hospital, aren't you?"

"I was trying to pretend it was a modeling agency." Tucker said.

"Here, give me the spray and I'll get it to your friend, you get out of here kid." Red said.

"But Danny." Tucker looked torn.

"I'll handle it. I'm sure he'd feel better knowing his friend is safe." Red said.

Tucker nodded and handed I've the spray, Red told him to keep the lipstick that doubled as a taser.

Red carried on alone, spraying the terrible smelling deodorant at all the rooms he passed until he looked into a room to find Danny. The kid was strapped to a table slowly moving into a machine that he evidently wanted to get away from. The locks were simple enough though.

"Not sure I wanna know what's going on here." Red said, feeing Danny.

"Remember what Sam said about the school psychologist?" Danny said.

"I'm sure I don't want to know." Red folded his arms.

"Yeah well, she's literally a monster that feeds on mental suffering. My sister kinda destroyed her body, and she wants a new one." Danny said.

"Please don't tell me she was trying to take your body." On it's own the creepy hospital was very uncomfortable, a body snatcher on top of that would have been just... no, just no.

Danny seemed to agree. "Whoa, no. She just wants pieces of DNA from the strongest, smartest, best looking kids in the school to build a new one." Danny pointed at woman behind some glass that was a bit put off at not noticing.

"The logic of looking for smart DNA at a highschool aside, she's basically a Frankenstein-psycologist-vampire?" Red took a step away from the case.

"Yeah, we still need to cure everyone else, Tucker has the..."

"Here." Red tossed Danny the can of Foley. "He was pretty shaky so I sent him back."

"Hold it right there ghost boy!" A black shadow rushed into the room, strait for Danny. Red moved instinctively to knock Danny out of the way and into the hall, getting himself tangled up by a glowing squid in the process.

"Let him go," Danny said. "Spectra, he doesn't..."

"Just go kid." Red sent a powerful kick at the quid things soft skin. It yelped and through the boy to the other side of the room. Red landed on his feet and cracked his knuckles. It'll take more than words and some half cooked calamari to keep Todd Reed down." That name still felt really weird.

Danny nodded and made a break for it.

"Todd Reed?" The shadow said, trying to wrap itself around the boy. "Are you sure you remember your name?" She cornered him and brought her face right up to his. "The look in your eyes says otherwise."

Red gave her the finger as he kicked off the wall twice, gaining the altitude to jump over her head. She was taken back by the rude gesture, got over it pretty fast and made a grab for the boy again. She caught hold of his hoodie and he had to slip out of it again.

"You break that, and I'll end you." He said. Ting , he really wished he'd stuck around the acid long enough to get rid of that hat.

"An interesting question." She held the hoodie at arms length, looking from it to red. "What would make any ghost in the human world help the halfa?"

Red could think of a few questions that were way more interesting and colourfully worded, but there were impressionable kids in the building.

"You know lady, if I ever find one, I'll ask em for ya." He made a grab for a dusty IV pole in a corner, but with a snap from Spectra's fingers he was caught in a bear hug from behind, by an actual bear.

"Oh, you don't know?" She chuckled.

Red leaned away from her, what was it with this woman and getting in his face. "Yeah, laughing crazies really aren't my thing." The whole situation was sending a chill down his spine, freaking creeps.

"And I thought the halfa was good." She laughed some more, flying around the room and sticking herself right up in his personal space again. "You really have no idea." She said in mock sympathy, she pulled up a mirror from the other side of the room and held it up to him and watching his expression from over his shoulder. "What do you see?"

"A crazy bi..." He was silenced by Spectra's hand smothering half his face.

"I suppose your little tough guy facade helps you cope, but there's really no need for language like that. " It's a pity really, so young, you probably had so much to live for. Or not."

"What the heck are you even talking about?" Red asked.

"I wonder how it happened. Don't worry you poor boy, it probably wasn't your fault." Her soft expression turned into something nasty. "Who am I kidding, look at you. Violent, brash, vulgar. You were asking for it, weren't you. All dressed up like a clown." Red tried to tell her what she could do with her psychoanalysis, but she smothered his face again. "So childish, probably had no actual childhood."

She was making zero sense, Red tried to bite be squishy stuff blocking his moth and nose, but just got a mouthful of horrible tasting sludge.

"How do you think it happened? I'll bet you it was painful, I'll bet that's why you don't remember. There was probably nothing left, not that anyone would have looked, not for something like you." She leaned against the bear and began stroking Red's hair." That just makes me wonder why the halfa keeps you around. He normally wouldn't think twice about sending a violent little ghost like you back where it came from. What do you say about that." She moved her hand away and flinched at the unexpected sound of Red's laughter.

"Me? A ghost? You're crazy lady." He said. "Now get your pet off me so I can kick your butt into a pit."

"Still in denial?" She held his jaw, painfully tilting it up to meet his eyes. "That passes. You'll have to accept it eventually."

Red struggled harder to get out of the glowing bear's arms. He broke away, but his eyes lingered on his own glowing arm. All the ghosts he'd seen had glowed, and so did he.

"Danny glows too." Grabbing onto the only shred of evidence he had to contradict her.

"In his ghost form, yes, but under that he's still human. You're not so special Mister Todd Reed, you're not special at all really. Not powerful enough to Bea threat. He probably just wants a pet for a while before he hands you over to his parents so for study."

"Shut up!" Red yelled. But his name wasn't Red... he wasn't... Someone was coming, Someone wouldn't have let him die, he needed... he just needed... "Someone's coming." He said.

"Aw, no they aren't sweety." Spectra said, and man he really hated peppy sadists. "No ones ever coming for you, because no one wants you."

He really needed her to shut up, he couldn't think. He would have done anything right then for her to shut up.

The one good thing about her whole school being infected by a ghost virus - if it was possible for there to be anything good about the situation - was that she hadn't gotten into trouble for being late that morning. Valery tried to focus on that past the horrible smell that somehow made it past her mask.

Most of her classmates had already been cured, and all she had to do was suck up the nasty little bugs that had started it all.

"Shut up!" She heard a disturbingly familiar voice not far off. She rushed towards the sound, really hoping she was room.

In that direction she found a circling around a kid who sat on the floor, being held in place by a huge bear ghost. She didn't hesitate to suck both ghosts into the new thermos she'd been given by the Fentons. When she turned her attention back to the kid, she froze.

The clown ghost, the one who knew her face, knew she had family. He didn't acknowledge her presence, just sat staring at nothing with wide eyes and taking in deep, shaky breaths. Her first instinct was to find out how to calm him down from what looked like some kind of attack. Her logical side argued that he'd probably been working with those other two to cause the whole mess.

"How'd you get here ghost?" She asked, flinching a little at the way he folded in on himself. He didn't answer, and she aimed her thermos, before she could catch him the thermos was knocked clean out of her hand and rolled down the hall.

Phantom! She wanted to run for the thermos, be ready for an attack, but the ghost didn't take any notice of her.

"Hey Red, you're okay, come on." Phantom was kneeling on the ground next to the other ghost, one hand on his shoulder. "I shouldn't have left you alone with her, darnit. And you!" He turned and pointed an accusing finger at Valery. "What did you do to him?!"

"I just got here." She didn't know why she felt the need be defensive, and she hated it.

"Other ghosts are one thing, but you think it's okay to mess with a little kid?!" Phantom said, his hands glowing green.

"Maybe you shouldn't have brought your little kid friend to one of your heists, ghost!" She trained the blaster on Phantom and prepared to fire, but a hand closes around her wrist at the last second.

"I just found out I'm dead, so could you just..." The red eyed ghost waved his free hand in a vague gesture.

At the edge of her vision she saw Phantom stiffen, she kept her attention on the other ghost though.

"Then you should know you belong in the Ghost Zone." Valery said, aiming her gun at him. The ghost was gone before she could fire, and Phantom stood across the room screwing the lid on his own, stolen thermos.

Before she could get him he flew through the wall and out of her reach.

Danny let Red out of the thermos at the park. Deserted at that time of the night, it was the only place he could think of that was quiet enough to explain things to the young ghost.

The first thing Red did was slowly pull off his gloves, then stood staring at his hands in silence. He might have been statue if not for the wind that gently tousled his hair

"Listen, Red." Danny stepped closer, not even sure where to begin.

Red started laughing hysterically. The sound tearing through the ghost's throat and shaking his body in a way that didn't look happy at all. It was terrifying.

It was the most broken sound Danny had ever heard.

The hero hurried over and grabbed the ghosts shoulder, wanting to do something that would help, even a little. Red threw Danny's hand away, almost knocking the green eyed boy off his feet. The ghost stumbled back a few steps, like he was dizzy.

"Kid." Red said, between bouts of laughter. "I was , haha, I was a horrible choice for a , ha, for a pet." The chuckle he let out sounded like something from a horror movie.

"Whatever happened to you Red," Danny said, "whatever it was, it couldn't have been your fault, you were just a..."

Red held up a hand, silencing the other boy. "I get it Kid, Danny." Any traces of laughter where gone from his voice. He just looked empty, and so lonely. "Could you just leave me alone for a while?" He asked softly. "I just need time to, to process all of this."

Danny nodded and stepped back. How did you comfort someone when they were dead? How did you tell them it would be okay when they were as far from okay as they could possibly be?

"Think you can find your way back to my house, or the school if you need to?" Danny asked, not knowing what else to do. He was beginning to see how short sighted he'd been when he'd thought he could help. Taking Red out of the ghost zone hadn't helped him at all, hadn't made him any safer. The ghost needed help that Danny just didn't know how to give.

"I'll stay out of trouble." The small smile on Red's face did nothing to make Danny feel better. "Don't worry about me, not like I can get much worse, huh?" He patted his chest.

Danny nodded again and lifted into the air, he knew there was nothing he could have done, but right then he really regretted not saying something earlier. He hated that Red had to have learned that from Spectra. As he flew he cast one last look at the solitary figure in the park, arms wrapped around himself like he was trying to keep all the tiny prices from bleeding out.

There was nothing Danny could think to do.

But there had to be someone who could.

Red wondered into the city, watching the clear sky darken with clouds. The streets were almost empty, but most of the shops were still open.

Catching sight of his reflection in the window he tugged off the hat and held it in his hands. He tried to imagine what he must have looked like before. For a moment another reflection flashed across the glass. Bloody and red and gold and green with shorter dark hair. He turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose to fight off the headache building up.

Was it his fault? They said he was bratty and violent, and he couldn't do that stupid somersault.

He slipped quietly into an alleyway and sunk down behind a rusty dumpster. The first drops of rain fell from the sky. Had it rained at his funeral? Nah, that was too cliché. Did he even have a funeral?.

He was glad the rain kept people in doors, he didn't want anyone to see him like that.

The clown is laughing.

Someone says he should have stayed in the alley, should never leave again. Jason agrees with them, because Someone isn't coming. Someone was too late and now they're never coming again. No one is.

He didn't see or hear the hover board floating high above his head.


	21. Chapter 21

**Typed this on my phone, so sorry for any typos. Any questions to ao3 please. I don't know how to reply here.**

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It had been raining earlier that day. Not very hard, but long enough to leave the town damp and humid. Thin trails of vapour, visible under the illumination on street lights, drifted up from little puddles on the asphalt.

A dark haired girl walked slowly through these empty streets, toying with the cellphone in her hand. She absentmindedly flipped the screen on the plastic device up and down. The poetry reading at the Skulk and Lurk had gone way overtime, but she'd already told her parents that she was fine walking. If she called them for a lift then they'd be expecting a call every time she was out late.

Sam shivered and hurried past a dark alley, a loud clanging from the dark space had her jumping so high enough that when her heavy combat boots came down in a puddle water soaked her legs up to her knees. There was a thumping nearby and it was hard not to imagine it as the footsteps of some ghost coming after her.

"Ridiculous." She muttered, to make herself feel better. If a ghost were out Danny would be out hunting it unless it were weak enough that it wasn't a problem.

Thinking about her friend made her thoughts shift uncomfortably. He hadn't spoken much to anyone at school that day. Both she and Tucker had tried to ask him what was bothering him but they already knew, and he knew they knew too. She thought briefly of calling Danny for a lift, maybe he'd talk if she got him alone, but that wouldn't help either, and he really did need his rest with the amount of work he'd been putting in to make up school work.

Danny hadn't been spending much time with her and Tucker at all he past few months. There was always someone to save, some homework to do, whenever they did find time to hang out a ghost showed up and cut it short. She felt bad about it, but some days she wished she hadn't undone the wish Desiree had granted. That day, watching Danny shuffle from class to class with no apparent interest had been one of those days.

A light drizzle of water began falling from the sky, Sam sped up, some splashing in the distance did too. An uneasy feeling crept up her back. Maybe calling her parents wouldn't be so bad. She lifted her cellphone, but before she even started dialing it was snatched from her hand. She grabbed the phone back without really thinking about it, before she caught sight of the gun.

Clutching the phone to her chest she backed into the wall, the streets were empty, no one she could call to for help.

"Hand it over girlie." The man said, another one coming up behind him.

She froze up. Not ghosts, people. Real flesh and blood people who couldn't be dealt with by throwing them into the Ghost Zone. The second man said something, Sam tried to calm down. These people couldn't go intangible, or turn into dragons. Compared to what happened every day they were really nothing. She was almost to the point where she'd have been able to call the police when the gun was pressed to her forehead. The man said something to his friend about messing up, her being able to identify them.

The girl drew in a breath and wondered if, like Red, she'd be wake up in the Ghost Zone. She squeezed her eyes shut and the gun went off. She opened them in shock and there was a bluish blur in front of her. It's arms moved, one, two, three hits, then one of the men went flying over it's shoulder, crashing into the wall right in next to Sam. The man pointed the gun again, but there was a sickening crack and he was curled up on the ground.

The figure stopped moving, positioning himself in front of Sam. "You okay?" He asked, looking at her out the corner of one red eye while keeping most of his focus on the downed men.

"Red." Her voice croaked out.

He was holding the gun, keeping the muzzle trained on her attackers. The ghost's gaze was like ice.

"Not scared of no kid." The uninjured man got to his feet and made a grab for the gun. Sam tried to yell out a warning, but before the man got close two deafening shots ran out and he was writhing on the ground.

"Not scared of no punk without kneecaps." Red mimicked, slipping out the clip and checking the ammo. "Three shots left, how much of a haul were you planning on bringing in?" He asked.

"We weren't gonna hurt her." The guy with the broken arm said, looking from his friend to the ghost desperately. "Just wanted the phone."

"Yeah, sure." Red snorted. "How bad could a shot to the head really hurt, right?" He said with an easy smile.

"Wasn't aiming..."

"Sure you weren't." Red stepped over the guy he'd shot at brought the gun up to the other mans face, just the way it had been pointed at her. "Neither am I."

"Please." The man begged, tears and snot dribbling down his face. " I'll go strait, won't touch a gun again."

"I know you won't." Red said, cocking the weapon.

"Red don't." Sam said, pulling on the boy's sleeve.

His eyes focused on her, then looked between the gun and the sobbing man at his feet. The boy lowered the gun and took a step back. He tugged his blue hood lower and firmly gripped Sam's wrist, pulling her away from the scene.

"Are you hurt." He came to a stop once they'd gone a few blocks, but didn't turn around.

"No." She said.

"What are you doing out alone so late at night?" He asked.

"I was at a, a poetry reading." She said. "I was about to call my parents to take me home."

"You couldn't have done that from inside?" He shifted a little and oh no he still had the gun.

"I wanted to walk, but it started raining and."

"You wanted to walk?" He chucked mockingly. "Yeah, coz you're such a mature little fifteen year old, walking around flashing next years model cell phone without Mommy and Daddy." He said coldly.

Anger was easier than fear, so much easier and she let it build. Let the head flare up on her cheeks as she yelled back.

"What about you? You've been out alone for days, didn't let anyone know where you were. I'm sorry not as smart as you, but at least I'm not a hypocrite!"

"I'm a freaking ghost, Samantha!" He spun around pinning her in place with his unnatural crimson eyes. "If you want to be like me then go right ahead, but seeing as how being a stupid little brat is probably what got me like this I wouldn't freaking recommend it. Little Miss Freaking Goth. You're so dark and independent aren't cha? Think dying'll be some mystical adventure. Well it's not Sam, it freaking hurts."

"I never said that!" She yelled. "And I'd never, ever want to be like you! I'd never have tried to shoot another living person, but you're not living, huh, so you don't..." She slapped both hands over her mouth, eyes widening in horror at what she'd said. "Red I'm so sorry, so so..."

"I wasn't gonna kill him." Red said. "I wouldn't have ever." His arms wrapped around him for a moment , but then held them up I'm a peace gesture. She heard him mutter something that sounded like trauma, but she couldn't be sure. "I wouldn't have okay. Just scaring him into a different career choice was all."

"You shot the other one." She didn't want to argue, wanted to forget it happened but how could she when it had happened right in front of her? "

"He'll be fine, won't be walking anytime soon, but he'll live." That Sam wouldn't of was left unsaid. "You should probably call the cops." Red said, maybe an ambulance to patch them up.

"I lost the phone." Sam said, feeling around her pocket.

"You want me to walk you home?" Red said softly, make sure you're fine?"

"Okay." Sam said, voice just as soft.

It felt like hours before they reached her house. She tried to apologize before opening the door, but...

"I'm sorry." Red said. "Didn't mean to scare you like that."

It's okay." She said. "My best friend's a ghost hunter" She tried for a small smile.

He returned with a little smile of his own. "Stay safe."

"Where have you been?" She asked quickly before he could leave. He quirked an eyebrow I'm response and she added on. "Danny's been pretty worried."

"Really thinks I'm the kid." Red said. "I'll let him know I'm still here."

"Thanks." Sam said, stepping inside. She was already in bed when she remembered that he still had the gun, she was too tired to think about it.

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"Where is my child!?" The pink ghost in her frilly dress practically screamed in Danny's face.

"Probably hiding from you." Danny said, dodging a volley of glowing pink jawbreakers. "Veggies lady, they're a parent thing." He'd almost managed to reach her when a cloud of powdered sugar flew into his face, choking him up when he breathed it in.

His vision cleared to the sight of her lifting up another civilian with a rope of sticky taffy. "I want him!" She half yelled.

" You can't have him." Danny blasted the taffy, freeing the man to flee in terror.

"You!" The ghost woman growled. "You go home!" She sent harp priced of something that looked like glass, but was probably some other kind of candy at him."

"You first!" He was so focused on dodging that he didn't notice the taffy roped creeping up on him until it was too late. They wrapped him tightly and smashed him into a few walls before throwing him away into the distance.

"Ouch!" He groaned, pulling himself out of the shattered remains of an electronics store's display window.

He hears the ghost woman's frustrated scream before she popped out of existence. "Wish you'd done that sooner." Danny said. He sighed and leaned against the wall. The ghost was gone, but all the screaming people just got louder. It had been such a nice sunny day out too.

The ghost woman had gone, but she'd left behind a huge pink gooey monster.

Danny fires off a few ecto blasts to get the things attention. "Hey ugly!" He called. "Mama just left."

The thinks half growled and half groaned , swatting at Danny with a sticky pink arm.

"Whoa!" Danny dodged. It was faster that something that size should have been. He flew around blasting the thing, while it hurled things laying around on the street at him, more property damage to be blamed on him. "Cut that out!" Danny charged up a little energy that time before sending it out I'm a beam that lasted a few seconds. A price of the monster melted off.

The thing groaned and grabbed hold of the melted piece of itself with one hand.

"Take that!" Danny grinned and melted of another piece. He swooped down and sucked some of the melted bits into the thermos. He flew around taking advantage of the creature's preoccupation with the melted gum like substance I'm it's hand to melt off more. It was half gone before it looked up, even without a face it's anger was visible.

It roared and flung the melted pieces in it's hands at Danny in a sticky wave that he couldn't dodge.

"Urgh" The breath he didn't need was knocked out of him when he slammed into a building and stuck there, unable to move. It approached slowly while Danny heated his hands to begin freeing itself.

"Hey Gummyface!" Shattered glass along with an explosion smacked into its side. Red stood a little bit away with another petrol bomb I. hand. He threw the bomb at the monsters face. "Meltyface now." Red pulled a rude gesture and shot Danny a look before running off, the creature following behind, apparently having lost all interest in the hero.

Danny wasted no time in freeing himself. He sped past the pink blob and lifted Red off the ground. "You said you'd find your way back." Danny said.

"What? Afraid I'd passed on or something?" Red asked.

"Not funny." Danny dodged a swipe.

"Sorry, took me a while to sort to get my head on. Ran into Sam last night, told me to check in." Red shoved his hands into the oversized blue hoodie he was wearing when Danny set him down far away enough from the monster that it would take a while to catch up. "So, what was the plan boss?"

"I was trying to melt it, but I didn't get the pieces fast enough." Danny lifted the thermos and didn't miss the weary look Red shot at the piece of equipment.

"Let me have it." Red held out his hand expectantly.

"So you can get caught up again?" Danny said. "No way, you need to get out it's way. I can beat him myself." After just now seeing Red was okay Danny didn't want to risk a repeat of the last time the ghost had helped. Danny was just about to fly off when he had to duck out of the path of Red's fist. He didn't yelp, heroes didn't yelp.

"And I could beat you if you didn't fly out of my reach." Red said. "Don't tell me you forgot that."

"As if."Danny snorted. " That thing's get you in no time."

Red sprang forward and before Danny could stop him the ghost was smirking a few feet ahead, thermos in hand and a big smirk on his face.

"Red, there's no time." Danny said.

"There's not." Red said, "Now stop acting like a kid an let's get going."

"Fine." Danny picked up the ghost and began flying back towards the monster. " But this doesn't mean you could beat me."

"Sure it doesn't." Red said. "You just do your thing, and I'll do mine." With a sloppy salute the ghost had ducked into an empty building and disappeared before Danny had a chance to respond.

The hero pushed down his worry and tackled the monster at full speed. The car it had been holding crashed to the ground.

"Eat candy." the things thick, deep voice ground out as it swung an arm at him.

"You first." Danny fired a beam at the raised arm, causing some off the melted goop to fall on the things face.

It growled and made to lift the newly melted pieces. Red launched himself out of a window, landing on the creatures remaining arm and sucking the melted bits into the thermos.

"No means no." Red was flung off the arm, but flipped and landed gracefully on a nearby streetlight. "Stop throwing yourself at him already."

Danny grinned and fired off another beam before the monster could go after the ghost. Red took to the air again, getting the pieces almost as soon as Danny melted them off. It wasn't smart enough to focus on both of them, so cleaning up the rest of it didn't take nearly as long as it could have, soon Red was gleefully poking at a tiny version of the monster, still growling at his feet.

Red picked it up in the palm of one hand and shook it, laughing when it wobbled like a piece of jello. "Haha." Red laughed, lifting it near Danny's face. "Not so tough now huh."It tried to chomp on Danny's nose, but the hero pulled back. " Aw, he likes you. "

"Ha ha." Danny said sarcastically, snatching the thermos from Red and sucking up the little blob. He clipped the thermos to his belt and turned his attention to the still smirking Red.

Embarrassingly the only thing he could come up with to say was. "We're gonna had to call you blue now, huh?"

"What? No way, I'm not an emo little ponyboy." Red crossed his arms looking just offended enough that Danny knew he wasn't really upset.

"Yeah, coz Red is so mellow." Danny rolled his eyes.

"Better than going around calling myself the Box Ghost, or Phantom." Red said.

"Hey, that's a cool superhero name." Danny whined.

"Sure it is." Red stretched. "So," he made a show of looking around the area, "what happens now?"

"Now we get outta here." Danny said, flinching at the horribly loud sound of what could only be the GAV. He made a quick scan for the vehicle and when he turned back the other boy had disappeared. Danny groaned and flew off. He'd give Red an earful when he... No, Danny shuddered at the sound of his dad's voice calling for the ghost. He'd have a quiet, mature conversation with his friend, a quiet one.

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"Now you're going to tell me where you were and why you were there and, and, what were you thinking!?" Danny didn't shout at the ghost boy poking at the ghost shield generator on his parent's roof.

"What is this thing?" Red asked.

"It keeps ghosts away." Danny said. "But don't change the subject."

"Why isn't it doing anything to me?" The ghost tapped it.

"Because it's not turned on." Danny said then carried on in his best Jazz voice, " You don't have to talk about what happened if you don't want to, but someone told me that to tell you that it's important to let you know that it's important not to keep it all in."

"How do you turn it on?" Red pressed.

Danny groaned in frustration and flipped the on the generator, putting a ghost shield up around the roof. "Can you just listen here. I'm trying to be a good friend."

Danny didn't pick up on Red's little flinch at the last word.

"I get it Kid, but there's really nothing you can do about it. With all the equipment up here you should really keep this thing on all the time, shouldn't you?" Red asked.

"Sam, Tucker, and I were gonna stargaze tonight, but Sam's not feeling well."Danny said.

"Oh." Red turned to look at Danny for the first time since the conversation started. "She say anything bout why?"

"She doesn't like having people around when she's sick." Danny said. "But Tucker'll be here soon."

"I just came to show you I'm still here, so I'll just..." Red reached for the switch on the shield generator, but Danny stopped him.

"Isn't there anyone you think you can talk to?" Danny asked, keeping a right hold on the ghost's wrist.

"No." Red said. "It's now your fault, Danny, not you're problem."

"There has to be someone you cares about." Danny said.

" There was someone." Red said calmly, he shuddered and pulled his arm away from Danny. "But he didn't come."

"What do you mean?" Danny wished he'd brought a sweater up to the roof with him.

"I don't know." Red said. "You're being real pushy about this." He added with a smile

"What do you mean by that?" Danny frowned.

"Asking so many questions, not letting it go, being..." Red started.

"No, the other thing." Danny pauses. "And sorry about, the pushiness, and stuff."

"I mean I don't know." Red said. "I don't really remember what was before." He waved his hand around. "This."

"Oh." Danny deflated. "Sorry."

"If you apologize one more time, geez Kid." Red rolled his eyes. " But it's probably just a ghost thing, huh?"

"No I've met others that remembered." Danny said. "I won't ask you anymore, but if you do remember..."

"Yeah, I'll have my own little mini shrink here."Red's laugh sounded only a little forced.

" Don't call me that." Danny said, immediately thinking of Jazz.

"So, can I go now?" Red asked.

"Go where?" Danny stood defensively in front of the generator.

"Er, I, you're expecting your friend soon right, I should get back to wherever before he gets here." The boy raised an eyebrow.

"I was expecting two, so there's room for you too." Danny flicked a little switch that set up a shield around the generator itself.

"You're not letting me leave right now, are you?" Red pouted.

Danny grinned. "It's educational." If Red really wanted to leave he'd have found a way to keep Danny from trapping him in the first place.

Red sulkily opened the bag of chips Danny handed him, but the hero could see the smile tugging at the other boy's lips.


	22. Chapter 22

**Robins know how to comfort victims.**

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"Bunny Wraith." The floppy eared, smoky blue creature of death yelled as it leaped for the young hero.

Danny screamed and vacated that spot for the safety of the rafters.

The Rabbit-like ghost paused at finding it's pray gone and looked up at Danny with big, glittering eyes. Standing on it's back legs, paws tucked to it's chest, it was hard to see such a thing being dangerous. Danny had fallen for the trap, and before he'd been able to recover the barely tangible monstrosity had lunged at him, teeth bared.

Danny tried to pull it into the thermos, but it hopped away. It made enough noise bouncing off the metallic walls that Danny was grateful for there being no one guarding he barely used warehouse. The hero ducked another lunge from the beast and flew around, thermos uncapped before the bunny could change direction. He breathed a sigh of relief when the last tendril of smoke disappeared.

A wheezing Sam and Tucker collapsed through the big empty door.

"We're here to help Danny." Sam gasped.

"Where are they?" Tucker asked, leaning against the wall.

"Nothing to help with here." Danny said, swirling the thermos around. "It never stood a..."

"Bunny Wraith!"

Another ghostly rabbit lunged from some dark corner.

Something else crashed through a window and threw Danny out of the way.

Danny leaped back into the air just in time to see the smokey beast hop around the corner. Before the hero could give chase he was given pause by the sound of uncontrollable sneezing.

"Really." Red sneezed. " You almost got beat by a smoke bunny?" The ghost let out three more sneezes, then hugged himself around his midsection and groaned. "I'm gonna be sick."

"We spoke about being nice." Sam chided, standing with her arms crossed.

She said something else, but Danny couldn't really hear her over the sound of Red dropping to his knees an being sick all over the warehouse floor.

"Er, you okay dude?" Tucker asked, approaching cautiously.

"Not gonna die if that's what you're worried about." Red tried for a chuckle, but his stuffy nose just made him sound worse.

"Not funny." Danny said. "You were fine an hour ago, what happened?"

"Was kinda funny." Tucker said, earning a smirk from the ghost and a chiding look from Danny.

Reds eyes unfocused for a moment, then narrowed sharply. " The freaking rabbit." He got unsteadily to his feet. "I'll freaking kill it." He took a single step before tipping over.

"Was that another joke?" Sam asked, catching the ghost and steadying him.

"Find a way." Red sniffled, and slowly stumbled towards the door.

"Yeah, I don't see you killing anything." Danny said, rolling his eyes.

"I hate warehouses." Red groaned.

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"Sure you don't want the bed instead?" Danny asked, peeking under the bed where Red lay in his sleeping bag.

"Sure Mom, could you bring me some chicken soup too?" Jason snarked and rolled over.

"Yeah, whatever." Danny mumbled, getting to his feet. "Do you think soup will help? I don't how ghost colds work."

"You think I do?" Red sniffed. "I don't even remember my name."

"You don't?" Danny slipped into bed.

"Meh." Red grunted, probably shifting around by the sounds Danny heard.

Danny kept himself to keep from trying to analyze the piece of information, he wasn't Jazz. "Just don't throw up on my floor."

Red was adamant he'd be better the next day, he wasn't. The ghost refused to stay home, so Danny had to bring him with to school. Then Danny had to leave the boy at the school when the bunny wraiths cropped up again. Red didn't care, he just wanted to sleep.

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He was napping in the school cafeteria when she saw him. A ghost, sleeping at her school like it was the most normal thing in the world. The other students at least knew to stay away from him by the emptiness of his table.

"What are you doing here?" Valery asked, setting her lunch down and taking a seat across from him.

"Sleeping." The ghost mumbled into his blue sleeves. "Go 'way."

"I'm not going away until you tell me what you're planning, ghost."

The ghost's head lifted just high enough that his red eyes could peek at her through his shaggy white bangs. " 'S you. "

"Yes it's me." She said, the unfocused look in his eyes making the retort softer than she'd thought it would be. He shrugged and lowered his head again. She wanted to demand answers, but the image of a soaked boy crying himself to sleep in an alley wouldn't let her. "What happened to you?"

"Bunny 'sploded in my face." he rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve.

"Isn't Phantom supposed to be watching you?" Valery asked.

"Wha'?" He looked up again and sniffed.

"I thought he was like, your guardian or something." She said.

She was surprised to when the ghost's slumped figure began shaking with laughter. "Why'd ya think s'mthin like that?" He looked at her with an amused spark in his eyes. She probably would have been more offended if he didn't look like he was about to pass out.

"Maybe because every time I've seen you he's been nearby." She glanced around the room uneasily, expecting the ghost who'd ruined her life to pop out and cause trouble. "Is he planning something at the school?"

"Hunting bunnies." The boy mumbled. "Not here."

"Then why are you here." She asked.

His eyes unfocused again and he shrugged. "School."

"What? You're gonna tell me you're a student here?" She almost laughed, but the look he shot her told her she was right. "I can't believe this."

"Not my idea." The boy said. "You gonna suck me up or something?" He sat up and stretched before settling into a relaxed slouch..

Even if she hadn't have been asked not to she would have felt bad sending him back to the Ghost Zone, he looked like a kicked puppy.

"You gonna stay outta trouble or something?"

His smile made him look just a little better.

"I guess you wouldn't know where he is now, huh?"

"Bunnys." The ghost said. "What, I'm not good enough?" He looked up with a smirk that might have been more effective if he hadn't broken into a sneezing fit.

"What happened to you?" Valery couldn't help bit laugh at the frustrated look on his face.

"Freaking rabbits." The boy growled.

"How could..." Valery was cut off but a shriek just outside the cafeteria.

The boy was on his feet and halfway to the entrance before Valery could follow.

When she caught up to him he was blinking rapidly in the general direction of Star, a blonde cheerleader gushing about over something out of their line of sight.

"What did you expect?" Valery said. "You are in a highschool filled with teenaged girls.

The girl turned and Valery was caught off guard when the Star ran up to her, a smile on her face as she tried to show Valery what she was holding. This had been Valery's friend for years before she'd been kicked out of the a-list.

" Oh my gosh Valery, look at this cute little..." Star held the thing out, but before Valery could get a look at what it was Star was screaming.

A split second later the ghost was a blur between her and her once friend.

"Rabbit!" The ghost sent the thing flying with a sweep of his hand.

When Valery could focus again Star was on the ground, looking fearfully at the smoke trail they had been left behind.

"Star!" Valery cried, rushing to the girl's side. "Are you okay?" When Star didn't respond, a seething Valery turned her attention on the ghost boy leaning against the wall. "Why did you do that?!" She demanded. "I though you were harmless, but you..." Valery caught barely a glimpse of the ghost's fave before Star rushed past her.

"Thank you!" The blonde said, throwing her arms around the ghost who had a dazed look in his eyes.

He opened his mouth, but slid sideways down the wall before he could say anything. Valery caught sight of a streak that she would of known anywhere as Phantom. For the first time she didn't care.

"Hey what's wrong?" She knelt down by the ghost.

"Rabbit." He wheezed. "Made me sick."

"It was so cute." Star sobbed. "I didn't think it would turn into a monster."

The ghost smiled gave a thumbs up. "S'okay, never'd leave a pretty girl t' ge' hurt." he said, then looked at Valery. "Be fine, jus' rest." His eyes slipped closed.

"We have to get him to the nurse." Star cried.

"No." A nurse would notice the boy wasn't human. "See if Phantom's still there."

"What would that help." Star asked, tears still running down her face.

"Whatever that thing was, it had to be a ghost." Valery said. "Phantom will know what to do."

"Star nodded and ran off while Valery laid a hand against the ghost's forehead. What was a normal temperature for a ghost? Her benefactor wouldn't be happy if he found out about this, not to mention...

" What did you do?!" Danny Fenton pushed Valery aside to his inspect the ghost.

"I didn't do anything!" Valery said, then turned to Star who had come behind the boy. "Why did you bring him?"

"Hello, ghost hunter parents, ringing a bell?" Danny said, not looking up from the ghost. "Come on Red." Danny slung Red's arm over his shoulder and lifted the ghost. Surprisingly Red was able to put some weight on his feet, even when he didn't open his eyes.

"Where are you taking him?" Valery asked, stepping in Danny's path. "You're parent's aren't known for helping people like him."

Danny's eyes widened before he shouldered past her. "Neither are you." He said coldly, without turning to look at her. He and Red disappeared around a corner while Valery stood in shock.

Their was no way he could have known. Everyone knows I hate ghosts, she told herself, and anything to do with them too. She pulled out her cell and called her father, suddenly she wasn't feeling to hot either.

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Nightwing shot a glance around the new area he found himself in. The only reason he knew that it was new at all was because his mapping software told him so. The landscape itself hadn't changed much and he was sure he'd seen a door just like that one before.

With his bat trained memory it wasn't a long shot to say that it was the same door, unless things inhere could clone themselves.

A squid creature flew by and, instead of turning to avoid Nightwing it split in two, then merged again.

One dark eyebrow twitched behind his helmet.

Any one of the things he'd seen in that place he would have been able to handle just fine under normal circumstances, there was always something weirder to see after all. Right then though, all he wanted was to find his Little Wing and get out before he was as crazy as The Joker.

No, that wasn't a very good analogy at all. Nightwing shook off the tight feeling in his chest and carried on. That cute blue haired girl had given him some tips in where to look, even if her adorable little friend had tried to sick a bunch of skeletons in him.

Nightwing was tempted to check the tracer again, any sign that he was getting closer would have made the stress worth it, but the battery was too drained. He had to be careful with the handful of uses that were left. Touching down on a nearby island, he checked his map data again. There was definitely a large mass ahead, but it was hard to tell exactly where.

He hears a little bark by his feet and looked down to see a little glowing puppy with a ball. It barked and jumped around playfully. Nightwing knelt down to pet it. Would Jason have ever wanted a dog?

"No time to play." he said with a small smile and lifted off the ground again. The playful yipping turned into a whimper, them a loud growl. The hero turned his body just enough to catch sigh of the huge green dog before he was hightailing it away at full speed.

The dog was fast, but there was no way he'd be able to catch up to a suit designed specifically for a time sensitive mission by Batman himself. Most other people wouldn't have been able to keep track of where they were going. Unlike those most people, Knighting had piggybacked on members of the flash family almost as long as He'd been a hero, he was able to steer himself in the general direction o where he'd been trying to go.

It didn't take long for him to find himself in a library. Rows and rows of books seemed to stretch on forever where spread out before him. His first thought was that Babs would have absolutely loves the place, so he took a picture to add to the next data package. His next though was that if he wanted to find what he was looking for, he'd have to get to work.

The hero plucked a hardcover book off a shelf and opened to a random page. Not a second later he found himself in a frozen wasteland.

"Friend!" A voice screamed in the distance. Nightwing groaned and made a run for it. There was nothing that made sense in that place. Nothing.

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When Valery found the ghost boy again it was near the end of her shift at the Nasty Burger. He was napping at a table with his face buried in his folded arms and a half empty bowl of soup in front of him. Danny Fenton and his friends sat at the same table, chatting over the ghost's head and occasionally making him eat more.

She watched as Danny got a call and left the table. Sam Manson softly shook the boy awake and spoke to him. Valery couldn't hear what they said, but she could tell that it made the ghost uncomfortable. He phased out of his seat and fell on the floor, laughing it off when Tucker tried to help him to his feet.

Red looked up and caught sight of her. He gave a small wave when he saw her looking. The ghost hunter looked down at her wristwatch, a few minutes wouldn't make much of a difference. She gestured to the back and got a thumbs up from the ghost before she clocked out and changed out of her uniform.

"Sup." Jason lifted one hand in greeting when Valery stepped out of the restaurant.

"Do you know that the Fenton's kid's parents are ghost hunters?" She asked, waving her arms. "Why would you be hanging around him and his weirdo friends? Unless," she brought a finger near her mouth. "Phantom sent you to spy on the Fenton's, didn't he?"

"Two thinks." Red managed to keep a cocky smirk on his face despite the fact that it looked like the rest of him was about to disintegrate, he held up one finger. "Phantom doesn't send me to do a single thing. Danny helped me out and I didn't really have anywhere to go afterwards, so I couldn't really say no."

"You'll be saying no plenty when his folks get you." Her watch beeped. "Oh no," She groaned.

"What is it?" Red asked, looking a little more aware.

"We have to get away from here before..."

"Valery my love! Please say yes!" A shrill voice called out.

Valery tried to run before the owner of the voice was in sight, but Red grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the wall and into the store room before she had a chance. She tried to ready for a surprise attack, but Red broke into a sneezing fit before she had a chance.

Valery ducked into the employees bathroom and got the ghost some tissues.

"Thanks." He mumbled and blew his nose. "What was that about?"

"Nothing." Valery said with and amused smile. "Just wondering how I was ever dumb enough to think you were dangerous."

Red snorted, leaning against the wall and waved a hand. "Say that again when I'm not trying to keep from throwing up all over you."

"Red!?" Danny Fenton's voice floated into the storage room.

"Man I'm tires of people treating me like a kid." He groaned. "Never touching a rabbit again, not ever."

"If you passed out again I'm making you meet my sister and that's really not something you want, trust me." Danny stepped into the room.

"Psh," Red smirked. "Just getting some air."

"In the stuffy storage room?" Danny asked, his eyes shifting between the two of them.

"Wasn't here the whole time." Red said. "Had to protect a damsel in distress."

"Sure." Danny said, relief evident on his smile. " Sam and Tucker thought you'd been kidnapped. "

"Huh." Red huffed. "Like anyone could take me."

"Sure they couldn't." Danny held out an arm to Red. "Need some help."

"Meh." Red led the way to the door. "You make me eat anymore soup and I'll throw up on you."

"I though you liked soup." Danny said, voice already sounding softer with distance.

"I like food, but I've only got so much room."

She listened to their conversation until she their voices faded away. The last of it she heard was.

"Just be careful around her okay. It'd suck if she disintegrated you."

She didn't get to hear Red's reply.


	23. Chapter 23

**I do my best to check for typos, but it's likely I didn't get them all, sorry.**

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"He was fast Tucker." Sam said, "the way he moved and, and the look in his eyes. I've never seen another ghost do that, never."

"It couldn't have been that bad, I mean, he did it to help you." Even if he got a little carried away, he did do it to help you, right?"

"I don't want to be helped like that." Sam said. "He shot one of them, and the other one, he almost..." She pictures the fear in the man's eyes when he had a gun pressed to his head. Red's smile when the man begged. She shuddered. "He said he wouldn't have done it, but I didn't see him throw the gun away, so what of he went back and did it anyway. They could had been too hurt to move."

"Did you ask him about it?" Tucker asked, looking a little disturbed himself.

"He said he lost it, fell out of his pocket when he went intangible." Sam said.

"And you don't believe him?" Tucker rang Danny's doorbell.

"I don't know why he would have kept it in the first place." Sam said. "I don't want to be so suspicious of him, but you weren't there. It wasn't a fight between ghosts with glowing beams and long speeches. They were people someone could have died."

"Hey you two." The door swung open, revealing Jazz Fenton, looking half awake and with a book under her arm "Danny's with you're other friend in his room doing homework." She stepped aside to let them through."Just call me if you need anything."

"Thanks Jazz." Sam said to the girl who already had her nose shoved in her book, oblivious to the rest of the world.

"If you don't stop that I'm going on freaking strike!" They heard he irate voice of Red drift down out from Danny's room.

"Strike from what?" Danny sounded amused. "And don't let my parents hear you using that language."

"You haven't heard my language kid."

They walked in on the sight of Danny trying to get a thermometer in the ghost's mouth. Red was using his english reading assignment as a shield.

"One of you say something." Red said, catching sight of Sam and Tucker.

"Oh, soooo dangerous." Tucker laughed. "Sorry Red, you're on your own with that one."

Red shot Sam a pleading look while peaking over the book.

"You're being worse than my parents, Danny." Sam said, plucking he thermometer from Danny's hand. "He's big ghost, I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"Weren't you supposed to be studying?" Tucker asked, leafing through the mess of paper on Danny's desk.

"Traitors," Danny threw up his hands. "I'm getting enough of that from Mister Know It All here."

"Not my fault I know things." Red's book phased out of his hands.

"You wrote these?" Tucker asked, holding up a page filled with numbers and letters"

"It's basic chemistry." Red frowned down at the book.

"Not the kind we learn." Sam said, lookin over Tucker's shoulder.

"He thinks he's a genius or something." Danny scoffed.

"Stop talking about me and do your homework." Red said.

"You sound like my sister."Danny said. A puff of blue smoke escaped his lips and Danny groaned. " Stay here." He pointed at Red before transforming and flying of.

"You stay here." Red growled and jumped through the wall after the halfa.

"Come on." Sam tugged Tucker after her and took the long way around.

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Danny caught up to the trio of Walker's prison guards in the park while they were yelling at a group of joggers about an escaped ghost. They were interrupted by a flurry of ecto-blasts.

"No that I have your attention." Danny said, moving between the ghosts and their victims. "Get lost!" He pointed back in the direction of the portal.

"We will not tolerate your interference in this Halfa." One of them said, brandishing his baton.

"Yeah, well I won't tolerate you messing up my town." Danny said, crossing his arms.

The ghost growled and charged Danny while the other two shot past him.

"No you don't!" Danny grabbed the tail of the ghost nearest him and swung it around, sending it crashing into the other two. He pointed with over his shoulder with a thumb. "Ghost Zone's that way." He said with a smirk.

"Interfering is against the rules!" The one Danny guessed was the leader said. "Detain him!"

All three of them attacked Danny. The hero flew above the trees, dodging some of the blasts sent his way.

"Didn't you guys learn your lesson last time?" Danny said, weaving between two, and laughing when they struck each other on the head with their batons.

"Oh we did." The other one said from behind him. Before he could turn a net was thrown around him and electricity was coursing through his veins.

Danny screamed and convulsed on the ground. The shock didn't last long, but it was enough to leave tendrils of smoke drifting up off his numb body.

"Might as well bring you in too." The ghosts circled around him. "Criminals shouldn't be running free."

Danny blasted the net to pieces before it could be activated again.

"The only thing criminal here is how ugly you all are." Danny said and dove at them. He flew out of a batons path and blasted one behind his head. Another grabbed hold of him, while the last one hit Danny hard enough to knock him to the ground. The halfa sprang back into the fight before they could regroup. He fired them off as fast as he could, leaving the ghosts without time to dodge. One of them brought out another net, but Danny ducked and shot one of the ghosts into its path instead.

The electricity went off, and Danny used the surprise from the one who did it to suck both ghost's into the thermos. He grinned when he turned to face the last remaining ghost who was slowly backing up , his expression furious.

"Not so tough one on one huh?" Danny said.

"Don't get so cocky halfa." The ghost growled. The ghosts lifted his hands, both of them glowing.

Danny dove to stop it, but was sent tumbling out of the sky by the blast while the ghost flew off. He reverted to his human form just before he would have crashed into the ground. Instead he headed an "Oomph." and found himself being lowered to the ground by Red. Danny let out a sigh of relief, that would had hurt, a lot.

"What the heck, kid." The ghost didn't look nearly as relieved as Danny. "First rule is never go in without back up, never ever, ever. Do you have a death wish or something?"

"Me?" Danny got to his feet, the realisation that Red was there at all hitting him. "I told you to stay at home. Those guys are dangerous." He grabbed hold of Red's hoodie and began pulling him away. "We have to get home before he comes back."

"Danny what the heck?" Red pulled away from Danny. "You almost went splat and you're lecturing me!?"

"I can take the risk." Danny said.

"Oh you can?" Red pulled at his hair. "You say that because you can't see yourself. A little kid, flying around playing hero" He pointed at Danny. "Can your parent's take the risk, or your friends. Do you want them crying over you when you make a stupid mistake and have no one to pull you out. You really think you can keep at this without help?"

"This is coming from you?" Danny barked out a harsh laugh. "You don't want anyone to help you with anything!"

"That's not even on the same level." Red swept out his arm. "And you're completely missing the point!"

"Then what is your point, oh mighty one?" Danny said mockingly.

"I'm already dead, Danny." Red said, clenching his fists. "What else could possibly happen to me. Even if I wasn't, it's not like I have any..." Red bit his fist. "Do you really want to be this?"

"You think nothing can happen to you?" Danny fought to keep from screaming. "Since I met you you've been either hurt, sick or missing. You still think you're invincible, Red? Because you can flip around from street lights? Those ghosts I just fought." Danny pointed at the sky. "They would have dragged you back to the Ghost Zone before you could blink."

"Maybe that's where I should be." Red shot back. He tugged his hood lower over his face and turned away. He looked at Danny over his shoulder. "And I think the fact that I'm a freaking ghost is enough of a reminder that I'm far from invincible."

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The next day at school, Sam and Tucker could practically feel the tension rolling off Danny and Jason in waves.

"So, uh, rough night?" Tucker asked hesitantly.

"I handled it." Danny said, shooting a look at Red that dared him to disagree.

"Course ya did." Red said, walking ahead of Danny.

"Don't bring that up here." Danny half shouted.

"Whatever you say, Boss. As long as you don't blame me when something does happen." Red didn't turn to look at any of them.

"Nothing happened before you were here and nothing will happen now that you are." Danny growled.

Red turned with his hands up in a mocking 'I surrender' pose and stopped began walking in the opposite direction of the others. "You and your friends have fun kid."

"Don't go too far, Red. Walker's goon is still around." Danny called to him.

Red just waved one hand and kept going.

"He's such a... " Danny growled in frustration and stomped off to class.

"So, did I miss something?" Tucker asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"I think Danny's starting to see why bridging home a stray ghost was a bad idea." Sam said, shooting a look at Tucker.

"He's not a stray ghost." Danny said, mind flashing uncomfortably to Red calling himself a bad choice for a pet. "He has a home."

"Sorry okay." Sam said, laying a hand in her friends shoulder? "Is there something we can do to help?"

"You wouldn't understand." Danny said. " You're still normal."

He missed the hurt looks on their faces when he slid into his seat.

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"BEWARE!" The Box Ghost shouted, sending a barrage of boxes at the Red Huntress.

"What do I have to do for you to take a hint." Valery growled, shooting at the tubby blue ghost. "Stay away from my Dad's... from the labs!" They were barely waking ends meet as it was. If her Dad lost his job again because of a ghost, she'd flip.

Just when she'd gotten the ghost cornered a blue sleeve appeared through the wall and slung around the Box Ghost's shoulder. Valery had to pull back her blaster at the last second when Red stepped through the wall an pulled the ghost aside.

"CHILD!" The ghost lifted Red off the ground and into a bear hug and flew around the room.

"Hey, put him down!" Valery said readying the gun for another shot.

"NEVER!" Box Ghost shouted and flew into a corner, still holding tightly onto the smaller ghost.

"Relax." Red huffed and struggled a bit in the Box Ghost's arms. "What're you doing here Boxy?"

"LIBERATING THESE BOXES FROM THEIR UNJUST IMPRISONMENT!" The Box Ghost screamed.

'Wow,' Valery thought, 'he's gonna need a hearing aid after this.'

"Wait, Boxy?" She glared at Red, who waved her off.

The smaller ghost lifted his head to the other one and spoke softly. Valery couldn't hear what he said, but it only took a few minutes for the Box Ghost to set Red down on the floor.

"FAREWELL CHILD!" The ghost yelled as it flew off. The last Valery heard of him was a faraway. "BEWARE."

"He just wants to be taken seriously." Red said, holding up his hands like he wanted to placate her, an uncertain smile on his face.

"Do you know how much trouble it'll cause if he comes back here?" Valery demanded, crossing her arms and tapping a foot on the ground.

"I told him I was working secretly to bring down your operation." Red shrugged, smile slipping a little.

Valery tried to keep up he glare, but Red didn't leave, and his smile started slipping off his face. Not even a minute later she couldn't take it anymore and groaned.

"You're looking like a kicked puppy on purpose." She accused.

"It takes practice." He grinned. "Aren't you s'posed to be in school?"

"Aren't you?" She countered.

"Hey, the only reason I go there is cause someone wants to keep an eye on me." He was coming suspiciously close to whining. At her surprised look he laughed. "You think I'm there so I can get a good job someday?"

"Shut up!" She pushed him. "You're just such a freaky ghost I forget."

"Oooh," he waves his hands hand backed up a little. "You gonna wack me back into the Ghost Zone? I'm sorry oh, great Huntress."

"Oh I'll wack you somewhere?" She rolled her eyes.

"To be fair I forget too." He said. "I haven't had very long to get used to it."

"Yeah..." She'd never been happier that her mask hid her expression. "Sorry for making that worse than it had to be."

"Don't take this the wrong way." He said. "But there was so much going on then, that I only remembered now you were even there."

"That." She said. "Doesn't make me feel a whole lot better."

"Tell you what." He climbed up a box to peer out one of the windows lining the top of the room. "You show me where kids around here play truant," he grinned at her over his shoulder, "and I'll forget about being dead."

"What makes you think I'd know that?" She asked, bemused.

"You couldn't have been ghost hunting the whole day." He said. "And it's pretty obvious you're not going to school today. You have to be somewhere."

"Fine." She said. "Maybe I'll get a shot at Phantom when he comes looking for you."

"He does that and I'll make a beeline for the Land of Green Swirliness."

"Really?" Valery asked, worry creeping into her chest. Her benefactor wanted this ghost in Amity Park. "That's a little extreme, isn't it?"

"Maybe." Red deflated, dropping off the pile of boxes. "It'd still tick me off." He held out his hand. "Wanna take a shortcut outta here?"

"Sure." She took his hand and let him tug her through the wall. "What's the deal with you two anyway?" She asked as they started walking and she retracted the suit. "When I first saw you together I kinda thought you were brothers of something. Don't look at me like that! You're the only ghosts I've seen that look so different."

"Other ghost's call him something else most of the time." Red said with a shrug, but that's not what I am."

Valery wanted to ask about different types of ghosts, but she doubted someone who took so long to realise he was one would know much. "Why aren't you at school anyway?" She asked instead. "Should you really be wandering around on your own?"

"I'm not a little kid." He frowned. "I've always taken care of myself, don't need a freaking baby sitter."

"From what you say, Phantom doesn't see it that way." Valery said, kicking a can that land watching it bounce to the other side of the street.

Red scoffed. "The only reason I came here in the first place was to make sure that dumb kid didn't get himself hurt."

"Er, Red." Valery grabbed hold of his arm. "Do you know you're sinking into the sidewalk?"

Red growled and got his feet back on the concrete, looking like e really wanted to break something.

"Doesn't take much to get you worked up, does it?" Valery smirked.

"It's freaking frustrating." Red said. "My first day here I thought my darn clothes were possessed."

"But you wanted to help Phantom?" Valery said, doing her best to stifle her laughter. "

"Oh ha ha." Red said sarcastically. "My life's such a joke." His face scrunched up. "My afterlife I mean." He shrunk a little deeper into his baggy hoodie. "Sure I don't fly, or shoot dealing lasers out of my hands, but I can handle myself in a fight just fine."

"Hey." Valery knocked him a little with her shoulder. "You said you'd forget about it if I showed you around." She tried to reconcile the playful ghost she'd met in the Ghost Zone with this boy. "You nearly kicked my but, and I'm not a joke."

"Huh?" He cocked his head to the side. At least she had his attention.

"I bet you just haven't got your ghost thing figured out yet." She carried on with a smile.

"I did fly once for a few seconds." He said thoughtfully.

"With your moves your probably a kickbutt ninja ghost or something." Valery said. "And I've always wanted to throw a ghost off a building."

Reds face was expressionless. "No." he tugged at his hoodie.

"Come, on what's the worst that can happen?" She said.

"No." He shook his head, but still had a little smile on his face.

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He didn't want to do it. Really, really, really didn't want to, but was tired of grasping for straws and messing up. Their wasn't any other choice he could see. Danny took a deep breath and rapped on his sisters door.

"Come in." She called.

Well, no going back now. He opened the door and stepped into her room. She was sitting on her bed with a book in her lap.

"Jazz, I have a problem." He said.

"Have a fight with one of your friends?" She asked, setting the book aside.

"How did you, nevermind." He said, Jazz probably saw something at school. "Kinda, but it's a little worse than. that."

"Okay." She said slowly.

"You've seen Red around, right?" He tugged awkwardly at the edge of his shirt.

"Yes." She sat up a little straighter.

"Well, he has a problem." Danny shuffled his feet.

"What kind of problem?" She asked sceptically.

Danny scrubbed a hand over his face, how much was it safe to tell her. "I guess you could say he's sick." Danny said.

"How sick?" Jazz said. "Shouldn't you talk to his parents about this?"

"He doesn't have any." Danny said. "He did, before I guess, but he lost them when he got sick."

"I'm not really a doctor Danny." She said, but she moved her legs and patted the spot next to her.

Danny signed gratefully and sat down. "It's not something that a doctor can help with. It's, what's the word...?"

"Chronic?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah, that." Danny said. "He'll never get better, and he only found out a while ago. He's still really, really touchy about it." He looked up at her open, accepting face and took that as an invitation to carry on. "I've been trying to help him through it, but he just keeps pushing himself. He was really sick a few days ago, and he just wouldn't take a break. Yesterday he tries to do something he just, just couldn't and I got mad at him. Then today he just blew me off at school and left." Danny groaned with his fave in his hands. "He keeps trying to do things he can't, and he then he gets hurt and won't talk to anyone for days."

"So you're worried your friend's going to push himself too far?"Jazz asked, Danny nodded. " You're sure you shouldn't tell whoever's looking after him? This is a lot to take on yourself Danny."

"He doesn't have anybody." Danny said.

"You've tried to talk to him about it?" She asked.

"It just made him madder." Danny sighed. "Every time I try he lectures me about...stuff."

A spark of understand lit up Jazz's eyes, Danny suddenly had the feeling she knew way more about it than he had told her. "If you were hurt." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "And you couldn't do things you used to do, then you made a friend who could do all kinds of amazing things, and he treated you like you were broken, how would you feel?"

For the first time Danny wondered about the person Red had been when he'd been alive. The way the ghost moved and improvised weapons. How he knew so much about advanced subjects Danny hadn't even touched on in school. Being a ghost couldn't have just imprinted Red with those kinds of abilities. Danny was struck with the thought that Red may just have been the coolest kid alive, before whatever had happened.

"He got hurt really bad." Danny said softly. "To make him sick. Really, really bad Jazz. And when he found out he was gone for days. I though he was..."

"You can't fix that." Jazz pulled Danny into a soft hug. "You can't blame yourself for things that happened before you been knew him. You can't give him back what he lost, but maybe you can help him find something new for himself."

"What if it makes him worse?" Danny hugged her back.

"That also won't be your fault. If you want to help him you can't keep holding him back." She said

"Thanks Jazz." Danny pulled away and got up.

"Where are you going now?" She asked.

"I'm gonna go do my homework." Danny said. "He'd throw a fit if I hunted him down now.

Jazz smiled and picked up her book, shaking her head. She just hoped he'd trust her enough with his other problems someday.

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The ghost that had gotten away the previous day was causing trouble near the school that night, again for his whatever Walker had sent him to find, and not caring what he broke to find it. Danny blasted it out of the sky and touched down.

The ghost floated up and pulled out it's batons. "I told you to stay out of my way halfa." He said.

Danny said nothing, just stood in with his arms crosses in the middle of the empty football field. The ghost got impatient and charged Danny.

"Rude." The halfa said, ducking out of the way. "We're waiting for someone." He shot off a few blasts, but didn't get too close to the guard.

The ghost growled in frustration and charged up his attack. "I'll bring you and him with me to stand before the warden." The ghost said.

Before he could fire his hand was grabbed, and he was pulled into a grapple flipped him in an arc, his hand tucked inwards. The attack went off, sensing the ghost flying over the football poles.

"Maybe I should tryout for the team." Red stood in front of Danny, grinning in all his clown suited glory.

"You'd have to put up with Dash." Danny reached out and pulled the ghost into a right hug.

"Er," Red stood, awkwardly with his arms at his sides before a small smile tugged on his lips. "I'll deal."

"You could take it out on ghosts when I have to study." Danny said.

"Wow, insensitive much?" Red chucked.

"They're always trying to take over the city and cause property damage." Danny defended, letting go of his friend.

Behind Red the football poles tipped over, falling on top of the guard with a loud crash. "Totally his fault." Red said, looking between. Danny and the poles.

"I've done worse." Danny walked over to suck up the groaning guard. "Sidekicks are supposed to mess up right?"

"Yeah right." Red scoffed as they began walking home. "You can be the sidekick."

"I was here first." Danny said. "And you're too angsty to be in charge."

"I think I'm dealing with it all pretty well thank you." Red said, looking more amused that offended.

"Please, if that ever happened we'd both end up dressed in all black leather and stalking the alleys." Danny said.

"That's going a little far." Red said. "But now that you mention it..."

"Don't even think about it." Danny laughed. "I can't handle anymore weirdness in my life."

"Your friends would get jealous of my mad skills anyway." Red smiled.

"What happened to your hoodie?" Danny asked.

"Heh." Red shrugged. "It wasn't fireproof."

"Do I even wanna know?" Danny huffed.

"How strong is your stomach?" Red smirked.

"Forget it." Danny said hurriedly. "I think the red one's still laying around the house."

"Thanks Danny." Red threw the hat over his shoulder, it was back as soon as Danny blinked.

"And Red." Danny took the hat and tucked it under his arm.

"Hm?" Red hummed, looking up at the stars.

"You're my friend too, you know."

"Thanks Danny."


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey there, just like to mention that I am working in a comic version of this. The fist pages are up on my tumble Shauds02. I'd appreciate if anyone would tell me whether the markers or pens look better. I can't decide. Any questions about the story to my ao3 account please, where I can awnser them.**

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The boy in the blue hoodie flipped over the head of the Red Huntress, tapping her helmet before he ran off in the other direction, laughing all the while. He said something, but the audio wasn't quite good enough to hear just what it was.

Vlad Masters lifted a remote and switched to another recording. He'd decided weeks ago to stop devoting so much time to the younger halfa, but after loosing the ghost he'd been monitoring in the Ghost Zone, it was interesting to find him at the school of the young Miss Gray.

Vlad watched the ghost turn the attack of one of Walkers men around with no overt effort. Even with the advantage of being a surprise attack, that was impressive. This was a ghost who'd almost taken down Skulker using a soup can. A ghost who seemed unable to use abilities that came instinctively to every ghost.

Getting Miss Gray to monitor the boy hadn't taken any of the resources that could have directed elsewhere, but it had borne some interesting fruit.

Vlad flipped off the monitor and decided to set up a little test for the little ghost, see how he behaved in a relaxed environment, and how he reacted when that was knocked out from under him. There were calls to be made.

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Friday at Casper High, the halls were abuzz with students discussing plans for the long weekend, some holiday coming up that commemorated the actions of some guy only history lovers cared about. Fliers for various events exchanged hands and dropped to the ground. In the midst of it all, one frustrated halfa was trying to explain to his ghostly friend why he'd thought copious amounts of soup would have been valued by the other.

"So, my parents say that ghosts are always latch onto something that was important to them in life, and that it becomes their obsession..." Danny was saying.

"I hate clowns." Red chipped in.

"I know that." Danny said. "Anyway, so because you hate clowns, and you looked like you really wanted soup, I figured that was your obsession. You've seen how Box Ghost is with boxes.

" You thought I was Soup Ghost?" Reds face scrunched up it what could have been disgust at the thought. He shook his head, and Danny had the idea that Red was trying to get the picture of himself screaming BEWARE and stealing soup.

Now the picture was in Danny's head too.

"That's not something I want to see." Danny made a cutting motion with his arms. "Ever."

"Yeah, no." Red said. "The clown suit's bad enough."

"Makes me wonder why you'd have it in the first place. Maybe you were in the circus." Danny said.

"I hate the circus." Red shoved his hands into the pockets of his reclaimed red hoodie.

"Doesn't have to have been something weird, you could have been an acrobat." Danny suggested. "You have to admit, it would explain some things."

"I hate acrobats." Red deadpanned. The ghost's posture straightened and he spun around, his head shifting like he was looking for something. "I hafta go check on something." He said and wondered off.

Danny rolled his eyes and began after the ghost, whenever Red got like that something bad seemed to inevitably happen not long after. Best to be safe.

Besides, for all that Red claimed he didn't need to eat the ghost sure got cranky whenever he missed lunch.

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Nightwing swatted off the glowing pink woodchucks who'd attached themselves to his boots when he'd been exploring the forested island below him.

Forests meant plants, some of which must have been edible, they also meant shelter. Jason would have known to go somewhere that had both of those things and wait for help. All Nightwing had found were rabid glowing animals and traps that were presumably set for said animals. Nothing that hinted at the presence of the missing Robin.

The hero touched down on an island and lifted his helmet. Guiltily he began chewing on a protein bar, and took a few sips from a canteen of water. The taste wasn't enough to make him feel any better, neither was the fact that his food supplies were running low.

He'd just begun he process of reactivating the thrusters and moving on - fuel was getting low too - when something on the little island gave him pause. The faintly glowing surface had a dull, reddish-brown splotch near the middle. Before he'd even knelt down to get a closer look he knew what it was. The scanner on his left wrist only confirmed it. Dried blood.

Dried human blood from a person who'd laid completely motionless while they'd bled out, and hadn't been moved until after the blood had already finished drying. It looked old enough, but Nightwing took a sample for DNA analysis just to e sure.

While he waited he searched the surrounding islands for more clues. Two hours later the results were displayed on his small screen, ninety-five percent match, with traces of whatever was in the atmosphere mixed in.

Nightwing's chest swelled with something, something that felt a little like elation and a little like the need to throw up. Jason had been there, on that island, alone, and long enough that he'd woken up in a crusted patch of his own dried blood. Despite the low battery, Nightwing flipped on Jason's tracer, a relieved sigh rushing out of his mouth at the tiny, blinking dot that was Jason's heartbeat. The hero clutched the little monitor to his chest, even as it blinked out, a warning sounded and he knew the tracer would only be usable once more.

The monitor was tucked carefully back into it's compartment on the suits belt, right next to the Tameranian crystal. Proof that, despite the large amount of blood Jason was still alive, at least a moment ago, Robin's heartbeat had been steady and healthy, and now Nightwing had proof that the boy had been in this place. Proof that he was getting closer.

The hero would later have hated himself for zoning out while he drifted aimlessly past rows and rows of floating doors, missing any potential clues, if it hadn't been what brought him in the path of two beings who at least looked like they may have been cops.

"Heard Jonas's squad was interrupted by the halfa." One of them said solemnly. "Only thing keeping them out of the detention box is that they found the boy brought out a new ghost with him."

"How'd one o those slip under his nose t begin with?" The other asked, while Nightwing listened from behind a floating rock.

"That's what's got The Warden so worked up, wants to send a retrieval squad." The first one shrugged. "Hope I'm not on it. The human world's not where I'd choose my post."

"Got that right, how the others go back is... y hear that?" The maybe cop spun around.

Nightwing stopped tapping the rock and came out, a sheepish expression on his face as he raised his hands. "You got me." He smiled. "Don't happen to know how I can meet this warden, do you?"

"Oh you'll meet him." The cops raised their batons. "Humans can't be in the Ghost Zone, it's against the rules."

"And telling you I'll be out soon doesn't help, huh?" Nightwing pulled out his escrima sticks and got ready as the two of them charged at him.

Nightwing ducked under their baton swings, then flew up, hitting both of them behind their heads with his electrified escrima sticks during a flip that ended with his feet securely on the solid ground of a floating rock. He smirked at their surprised expressions.

"Wanna try that again?" He said, twirling his escrima sticks confidently, the settling into a more battle ready pose and making a come hither gesture.

His opponents growled and charged him again. This fist to get reach him got a kick to the torso. "First prize!" Nightwing chirped and continued the momentum to kick the other who - surprisingly -caught the heroes leg. "Impressive." Nightwing hooked his leg around the guys neck and drew him close enough to strike with an escrima stick. "I'm shocked." He knelt down next to the prone figure.

"Well, I guess you are too, huh buddy." He chucked.

"That would be you, boy." Someone said, before Nightwing was treated to a similar voltage of electricity from behind.

The hero groaned and rolled over to study the new attacker. The new guy looked similar enough to be the same thing as the other two.

"Nice hat." Nightwing said, referencing the man's cowboy hat.

"You're breaking the rules." Was the only response as the first two guys flanked their leader.

"Didn't know was a rule." Nightwing slurred.

"No excuses, get him to that darned portal boys." The man left.

"Yes Sir." The others half shouted and lifted tried to lift Nightwing off the ground.

"Nope." Nightwing rolled out of the way He'd flipped to his feet and was charging the leader before the others had a chance to react. He grabbed the man's arm and twisted it behind his back, holding him tightly with an escrima stick at his neck.

"Stand down." The man ordered, but looked more annoyed than afraid.

"Now." Nightwing huffed."I've got a few questions I was hoping you'd answer for me."

"Speak, boy." The man said. "I've got a prison to run."

"Sorry about that, Sir." Nightwing said. "I don't mean any disrespect to this places laws, but I really need to find someone who wandered in here." Never a good idea to be on law enforcement's bad side. "Where would I look if I were trying to find another human, hmm?"

"Real world items are contraband." The Warden said. "That includes humans, they would have been returned to the real world as soon as we caught sight of them."

"How likely is it he's been found by now?" Nightwing asked. "He's been here for almost a year if that helps."

"Then he'd be in the human world, if he's survived that long." The man's eye was twitching in a way that have away his impatience.

"How would you have gotten him there?" Nightwing asked, letting up on his hold.

"The portal my men were ordered to escort you too." The man frowned at Nightwing. "That way." He pointed then gestured for his men to follow him. "Don't let me see your face here again." He flew off with his subordinates.

"Yes Sir." Nightwing said loud enough for The Warden to hear. If he found Jason in the human world, a call to Bruce would get them home no problem. He wouldn't choose going through the creepy illogical green place again anyway.

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Sam got out of the car a block away from the Skulk and Lurk, she scanned the sidewalk before waving them off. He'd said he'd be there before. Maybe he'd meant a block away in some other direction. She shivered, then stepped forward as though this were one of the many time's she walked the whole way alone. She did her best to keep calm, but it was like there was something hiding in every shadow.

One shadow detached from the building, making Sam's heart feel like it was in her throat.

"Hey." Red held up one hand in a sloppy greeting before stuffing it in the pocket of a a black hoodie.

"You nearly gave a heart attack!" She growled, crossing her arms.

"Sorry." He shrugged. "Figured you'd be ticked off if your parents thought you were meeting your emo Gothic boyfriend."

"Do you even wear anything other than oversized hoodies." She asked as they started walking. "I'm no Paulina, but I'd think you'd get one that fits first chance you got."

"They make me unapproachable." Red said with a smirk. "So I don't have to deal with idiots all day." His eyes shifted around. "Not that it works as well as I hoped it would."

"You're in highschool, what did you expect." Sam said. "Going for the mysterious loner look isn't the best way to keep of the radar." They waited for traffic to pass before crossing the street to the Skulk and Lurk.

"Well they look friendly." Red said, studying the goths skulking around the club, he frowned for a second then turned to her with a grin. "Maybe I should go goth."

"Goths don't smile like that." She said.

"I thought goths were all about not conforming." He said distractedly eyeing the darkly painted walls.

"We are." She guided him over to her favorite table.

"Then there's no reason for me to conform to gothic gloominess." Red checked under the table and chair before sitting down. "I'd be so Gothic I wouldn't even conform to Goth.

Sam bit back a snigger. " You'd have to dress in veeerrry bright colours for that, and go around spreading love and peace."

" That's called being a hippie." Red said looking mildly offended. "How long till the show starts?"

"Just a few minutes." She frowned at him frowning at the glasses of water that were set down in front of them. "Why are you so jumpy?"

"There's a creepy... person that's been staring at me since we walked in." Red said, looking resolutely at the stage like he was doing his hardest not to look anywhere else.

"It's just because you're new, you kinda stand out here." She said, scanning the crowd for whoever was staring, there were quite a few.

"The person was making kissy faces." He disappeared a little more into his hoodie.

She let out a soft laugh. "Maybe a girlfriend would help dispel your loner image." She suggested.

"It's not funny." He pouted. "I couldn't even tell if it was a guy or a girl."

Sam forced back her smile and shushed him when the first person made their way onto the stage.

She didn't hear from Red again until it was time to go home, almost laughed at the faces he pulled at some of the poems.

"Your disaffected scowl is great by the way." Sam said, breathing in the cool night air gratefully.

"Yeah, sure." He grumbled, glaring at a girl who waved at him as she walked off.

"It is a girl." Sam said, smirking at his discomfort.

"A girl who read a very disturbing poem while staring at me." He said. He took a breath, then exhaled quickly and spun on his heel to face her. "That was enough gloom and doom for one night. I'll be right back."

Before Sam could call him back he'd disappeared. "I'm starting to think you're lying about not having an invisibility power." She called, only hearing a far away chuckle in response.

A minute later he popped up in front of her, one oversized, brightly coloured lollipop between his teeth and another being waved as it was offered to her.

She took the candy with a small smile. It really was so easy to forget, what with him trying to fit a lollipop in his mouth while talking about some of the poems he'd actually liked, and those that had disturbed him most.

"Can I ask you something serious?" She asked softly, instantly getting his full attention. "And you'll be completely honest?"

"Sure." Red said with a tired little sigh.

"Would you have done it?" She said, looking at anything but him. "And did you really loose the gun."

"No." He said. "I don't remember much, but I think at least one of my parents was like that, and I think that, maybe they didn't come home one day. If I think about it now, it's unlikely those guys really would have hurt you. I guess when I saw the gun I just freaked, didn't even know it was loaded really."

"I'm sorry." She said bringing the lollipop to her mouth. "I don't think you're a bad person, and I don't want to either, you just..."

"I scare you." He scratched his lollipop and frowned when the candy got stuck under his nail. "I know. I'm surprised Tucker isn't just as scared."

"Tucker's like that."Sam said. "You know when I first saw you, I didn't believe you were a ghost."

"Neither did I." Red said. "You ever hear that joke about being late for your own funeral? It feels like that." Sam's house came in to view, the foyer light still on. "Some parts are pretty cool though." He stopped two gates away. "No parents waiting up for me."

"Yeah, lucky you." She rolled her eyes playfully. "Thanks for coming with me tonight."

"Thanks for letting me." He turned to leave, waving at her over his shoulder. "Seeya."

"Red!" She called before he was too far away. "You're too much a dork to scare me."

He faced her without stopping and, while walking backwards mimed being stabbed in the heart before laughing and breaking into a run.

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The two people in brightly coloured jumpsuits were surprisingly calm when Nightwing found them after reluctantly stepping out of the swirly portal. The first thing he did upon seeing their surprised faces was snap a quick picture. A reference of how they looked could have been helpful if they suddenly turned into Clayface or something.

"Er, high there." He waved.

Like he'd flipped a switch they both approached excitedly from their work table.

"He's human Maddie!" The big orange one said with a huge grin.

"I know what the scanners said, but how could he have come out of the Ghost Zone, dear?"

"You're right," The man scratched his chin contemplatively. "The scanners do act up around Danny, there might be more glitches.

Since being human seemed like a big deal here, and in a good way, Nightwing quickly lifted off his helmet, leaving only his domino mask to protect his identity. "Completely human." He said, spreading our his arms.

"Mom, Dad?" A girlish young voice called from atop the flight of stairs off to the side. "I'm hearing a distinct lack of exited yelling from down there."

"It's nothing Jazzypants, we've just got a visitor from the Ghost Zone!" The big man yelled back.

"And how were you in the Ghost Zone?" The blue jumpsuited woman asked, stepping closer to Nightwing.

"What!?" The girl screamed and sprinted down the stairs. "She caught sight of Nightwing, who winked.

"Don't even think about Mister. " The man warned, shoving a finger in the heroes face.

Nightwing shrugged, what could he say, wasn't his fault he had a thing for redheads.

"Ahem." The woman cleared her throat. "You were about to tell us why you were here."

"Right." He fiddled in his belt and pulled out the picture of Jason he'd been using. He smoothed the edges and looked fondly at his little brother leaning sassily against their mentor, who was actually smiling.

"What is that?" The man asked excitedly. "A new ghost weapon? Your portal? Or have you come here for help from the great Jack Fenton?"

"No it's," he reluctantly turned the picture around for them to see. "This is my little brother."

The family bent closer to look at the picture.

"Haven't seen that kid." The man said, " and what's with the freaky costume?"

"Dad." The girl chided softly.

"No, it's okay." Nightwing waved a hand as though batting the comment aside. "He was pretty camera shy, so all I have is this Halloween picture. His name is Robin, but it's possible he called himself something else."

"Why are you looking here?" The girl asked, frowning at the picture.

"He was really lost in the other place." He jerked his thumb at the swirling portal. "One of the guys in there told me he'd have been tossed over here if they found him."

The woman sounded genuinely sorry when she said, "I'm sorry, but we haven't..."

"Wait." The girl pulled his hand, still holding the picture, closer to her face. "He does kind of look familiar." She met Nightwing's hopeful eyes. "I don't forget faces, and I know I must have seen his before." She turned to her parents. "He might have come through when you weren't here and freaked out."

"I suppose Danny and his friends might have seen him." The woman said. "Jazz, would you ming bringing Danny to the living room?" The girl tried to protest, but the woman ignored her and guides Nightwing up the stairs with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Five minutes later Nightwing was crunching on fudge cookies with a mug of coffee streaming in front of him. He was surprised they hadn't questioned his mask, but the woman hadn't taken off her goggles either, leading him to assume it wasn't a big deal.

"What's this about Mom?" A young male voice groaned from the top of the stairs. "Tucker and I were just about to break the forth gate."

"Not everything is about video games." The woman said. "This young man's brother was sent through out portal." Nightwing waved when the boy's eyes locked on him. "Did you notice anything?"

"This is him." Nightwing held out the picture. "Name's Robin."

"I don't think so." The boy said slowly. "Shouldn't you be asking the police?"

Nightwing sighed sadly. It had been a stretch to think he'd find Jason tucked away safely with this family. "Thank you." He said setting down his mug and standing up. "You've all been very kind."

"I'm really sorry." The boy said, scratching the back of his neck. "I really wish I could help you."

"It's fine." Nightwing gave his best attempt at a smile. "I'd better get going."

"It's dark out, maybe you should stay the night, we have a spare room" The woman offered.

"I appreciate it, but I really need to keep looking, he's a little trouble maker, probably got himself mixed up in something by now." Nightwing said, stepping out the door. "I'd been a horrible big brother of I weren't there to bail him out. Have a good night, and thanks again."

Nightwing took in the night sky before he checked his GPS. No signal, but his tracer was still blinking on the screen.

"Not calling B anytime soon." He muttered and began walking. To find Jason in a world that was likely as big as his own, he'd need to narrow it down before he used Jason's tracer.

First thing he'd need was a place he could stay for however long it would take. For that he'd need a job, easy enough, and it didn't look late enough that everything would be closed. He considered actually going to the police of this world, but the ideas of Jason either going there for help, or being caught by them were both equally laughable.

The hero was so busy planning as he walked, that he didn't think to question the hooded kid that crossed the street to avoid him.

Before all that he'd have to change into some street clothes, he needed people to take him at least somewhat seriously for things to go smoothly.


	25. Chapter 25

Friends, whether you have them or not are a very important part of every person's life. Almost everyone has some sort of contact with someone else every day, and the more contact we have with one another, the more like it is that friendships will form. Most of the strongest friendships are forged from years of interaction and effort on the parts of all members.

Then there are some friendships that require hardly any time at all to become even stronger. Sadly it's all too common for old friendships to be left by the wayside.

That wasn't going to happen to Tucker Foley, no way. It was the perfect chance to solidify his position. Nicolai Technus was stomping around in a robot suit made from contents of the Axion research lab he'd gotten hold of before they'd gotten the chance to interrupt him.

"I'll never be defeated! With all of this 'radical' technology, getting into the mainframe and taking over transmissions will be a 'snap'." He threw back his head and laughed maniacally. "And the best part is, when I leave I'll have all recourses to take over the world!" He flung out his arms, losing his grip on the Fenton thermos, sending it bouncing around the room before crashing into a wall and onto a shelf of junk. "Oh." He stopped abruptly them rushed towards the sealed lab doors.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny Phantom flew at the ghost, lighting up the dim room with a volley of bright green ecto-blasts. "I've seen enough of that face to know I don't want it on T.V for the rest of my life."

The ghost laughed and wrapped the hero in a tangle of wires, then slammed him around, cracking lots of the expensive looking machinery before throwing the boy through a glass window.

"A child like you will never stand against the might of my awesome electronic fury!"

Danny shooting back through the window like a bullet, and slammed full force into the ghost's midsection. Technus laughed and fired a bright beam at the boy. Danny crashed into a wall and slid down, headfirst to the ground besides Tucker, who was frantically typing on his PDA.

"How long is this still going to take?"Danny frowned up at his friend.

"Do you have any idea how advanced his tech is?" Tucker turned away with a scoff. "It'll be amazing if we get through at all." He grinned. "Then again I am pretty amazing." He turned back only to find that the hero had been dragged away by the ghost without Tucker noticing.

"Hurry it up Mister Amazing!" Sam yelled from where she was scaling some shelves in search of the Fenton thermos. "Gotcha!" She raised the piece of equipment triumphantly.

"That won't do little girl!" Technus grabbed the thermos out of her hand and knocked her off the shelf. She fell, with a bunch of tools clattering to the ground around her. "Technus, master of all things electronic, cannot be defeated by an electronic device!" The thermos rattled in his hand. "Quiet you." He shook it violently.

Tucker couldn't help but laugh at the storm he imagined Red was swearing up. Danny pulled himself up off the ground and helped Sam to her feet, then charged at Technus again, reaching for the thermos.

"Tucker!" Sam called, picking up a metal rod, she wacked away a cord that had almost gotten to the techno-geek.

"Almost got it!" Tucker ducked under one of the sturdy metal tables, hoping he'd be safe there for the few more minutes he needed. Danny was thrown into a similar table and it was bent almost in half. Tucker shivered and doubled up on his typing.

The Fenton thermos rolled out of his hands and Sam grabbed it. "No!" Technus screamed, Danny few in front of him, firing blasts at the ghosts face.

Sam wasted no time in opening up the thermos, releasing the a stream of reddish smoke. Seconds later another ghost was kneeling on the grounds, fury burning in his bright red eyes.

"Piece of cruddy freaking filth!" Red screamed and ran forward.

Technus screamed and swung at him with a bunch of cords. Red flipped into the air and landed lightly on the cords and began running up. Technus tried to shake Red off and launched the boy into the air. Unfazed, Red twisted, using his fall to deliver a powerful kick. A loud CLANG echoed through the room, along with a cracking sound.

Reds landed and immediately went for Technus again, twisting out of the path of the beams and wires flung at him.

Tucker turned away from the fight to focus again on shutting the ghost down, ignoring the curses and clanging. Almost done, he was almost… There was a loud scraping sound and Tucker looked up again. Red had gotten hold of a wrench and a pliers. He was charging at Technus again.

Tuckers PDA beeped. "Got it!" He called, leaping out from his hiding place just in time for the giant suit to fall apart.

"I'll get you for that you…" Technus yelled as Danny sucked him into the thermos.

"Treat me like a freaking pokemon." Red wiped a bit of oil of his cheek with his hat. "Freak."

"That was awesome!" Danny yelled, throwing an arm around the ghost's shoulders. "I never knew how great having a sidekick would be."

"I said you were the sidekick." Red pushed Danny away, an annoyed frown on his face. "He bent over a little, hugging his midsection. "Why was there so much shaking in that thermos?" He groaned.

"I almost had it." Tucker said, grumpily tucking away his PDA.

"Of course you did." Sam said. "Anyway, it's getting dark out, I have to get home. Seeya tomorrow."

"Whatever." Tucker sighed. "Hey Danny, mind giving a guy a…" He looked up to find himself alone in the room. "…lift." He groaned and headed home himself. He'd almost had it.

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It was a bright sunny day in the city of Amity Park, swimming pools were filled to capacity and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect day for ice-cream at Elmer's with friends. It was just the three of them, no ghosts. There was a new video game at home waiting for him, but now he was just glad to have some down time with his friends.

Three bowls of iced cream were put in front of him, Danny, and Sam.

"Where is your ghost pet now?" Tucker asked, scooping up a huge bite of ice-cream.

"He wondered off again." Danny said. "I didn't even notice till I got here."

"Why… You know what, I don't wanna know." Tucker said. "I'm just gonna eat this…"

"Tucker wait!" Sam called.

"What?" He shoved the spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth and immediately spat it out. "What was that?" He shuddered.

"Tofu." Sam said curtly, pulling the bowl away from and pushing another at the boy. "Milking cows is just inhumane, how would you like it if everyday there was a machine hooked up to your…"

"Guys." Danny interrupted them. He took a bite of his desert, head turned away from the two of them. "Even the waiter is laughing at us."

Tucker scanned the few waiters working that day, and sure enough, there was a dark haired pretty boy nearly doubled over with laughter.

"If I were him, I'd be laughing at myself." Tucker snarked. "I mean look at that uniform."

Sam chuckled and Danny looked as though he was about to say something when a pale blue vapor escaped his lips.

"Gotta go." Danny leaped to his feet and ran off.

"Come on." Sam tried to pull Tucker out of his seat, but the boy just took a bite of his ice-cream and stayed put.

"What's the point, Red will probably take care of it before we can do anything." There went his perfect, ghost free day, maybe he'd just go home to his new video game after all.

Something that looked like a radioactive cross between a crocodile and a person crashed into the door, smashing the glass and sprinkling Sam and Tucker with the sharp shards and knocking them out of their seats when they ducked for cover too fast. All the frightened customers ran screaming out of the ice cream parlor. Sam and Tucker's exit was blocked when the ghost locked onto the teens and charged at them.

On the other side of the road, Red, his face partly obscured by his baggy red hoody, did a flip of a street light and planted a kick on the things face, then spun around and held it tightly around it's throat. It shook its huge head, knocking the ghost off, but he landed on his feet and grabbed a broom, breaking off the edge, he pushed the monster out of the door and led baited it away.

"You two okay?" The waiter who'd been laughing came over to help them back. Tucker's first thought was that the guy had guts for sticking around.

"Don't worry," Tucker took a look at his nametag, "Richard, were used to it."

Danny rushed back into the Parlor, back in human form and with the thermos held loosely in his hands.

"Are you guy's alright?" Danny huffed, leaning against the door to get back his breath, while Red came up calmly behind him.

"Fine." Tucker said, stepping past the hero. "Just fine."

"Where are you going?" Danny asked, his face screwed up in confusion. "We could still…"

"I'm just gonna go home." Tucker sighed, he was too tired to pretend they could still have a normal Saturday.

"Wait." Danny called. Tucker turned reluctantly to face him. "I'll see you at the fair tomorrow, right? It's hard enough getting Red to come along at all and I still can't convince him to ride the destroyer…" He shrugged uncomfortably, at Red's scoff.

"Carnivals are trouble magnets." The ghost took one look into the wrecked ice cream parlor and stepped away from the door, choosing instead to lean against the same street light he'd leaped of only a few minutes before.

"Sure." Tucker shot a look at the ghost and kept going. He heard Danny talking to Sam, checking her over, but he felt Red eyes fixed on him until he turned the corner, sending and almost painful chill down his spine.

The feeling didn't last long and as he felt one kind of tension draining away, another quickly filled it's place. He'd tried not to let it bother him before. Not when Danny hadn't come to visit him when he'd been grounded for helping out in the ghost-zone, not when Danny had left him at the creepy hospital, not when Sam had taken Red with her to her stupid club without even bothering to ask her other friends.

It had been fine, because Tucker knew he was there best friend. Even when all either of them talked about was how they would help Red get better, or how he was so dangerous, so scared and confused. How he could do things with barely any powers that even Danny couldn't do. It had been fine, because Danny still needed Tucker, he was the one who pulled Danny through. Him, Tucker and not the freaky ghost kid. It had never been 'Tucker please show up incase my other friends gets distracted' before.

"Oh Red can dismantle robots," Tucker mumbled, "Red can kick ghosts in their faces and help Danny with his homework. Every day it's something else. Mister perfect, pretty Red."

As he approached his house he noticed someone waiting for him outside. A very surprising and unusual someone that a few months ago he would have loved to be there. Just as he'd been about to snap at Valery about what she wanted and why she thought he'd have it, she spoke.

"We have to talk about your ghost friend." She crossed her arms and blocked his path.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tucker said, ignoring the icy wave of fear that had washed over him. She couldn't have found out Danny's secret, there was no way, she would have gone straight to the Fentons, first thing.

"Don't play dumb Tucker." She rolled her eyes. "I knew Red before he came here and I know all about him." Her face softened. "It's important."

"Come in." He muttered. Great, someone else who wanted to talk about Red.

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.

He'd have kissed Valery if she hadn't left the house right after saying her piece. The next day was just as bright and sunny as the last, but this time Tucker had the mood to match. He sped to the fairgrounds as fast as his scrawny legs could take him, ignoring the bright poster advertising the five hundred foot roller coaster he and Danny had been hyped for all week.

It was only once he'd already gotten there that he remembered he was supposed to wait at home for his friends do they could all walk together. He was going to head back home when he glanced at his watch and decided that his mom would have told them he'd already left. They would already be at the carnival looking for him.

Danny and Sam were near the petting zoo when he just barely heard her complaining about the cramped enclosures over the excited squeals of other girls. Danny was nodding along while he scanned the crowds.

"Tucker!" He called, a huge grin on his face when he ran up to his friend. "Man am I glad you showed, I was getting worried the line for the destroyer would be…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Tucker placed both hands on Danny's shoulders to get Danny's full attention. "Never mind that, I've got something big to tell you, where's Red."

"He saw a clown and now he's looking for bombs." Danny tuned his eyes skyward and shook his head.

"Don't ask." Sam said, just a little edge to her usual monotone.

"But he wasn't going to ride it anyway." Danny grabbed one of Tuckers arms and began pulling his friend back towards the long snaking queue for the coaster. "If we hurry we can still get there before they cut off the line."

"Not now." Tucker pulled away. "How long do you think it will take for Red to get over this freak-out?" He asked, he had and he was going to get it done.

"Maybe he'll show up later." Danny said, some other emotion clouding over the excitement that had filled his eyes before. "What's the big deal?"

"Yeah Tucker." Sam said, leaning between the boys, her eyes narrowed condescendingly. "I thought you wanted to ride the oh-so-awesome five hundred foot tall pile of shoddily thrown together metal."

"It'll still be there tomorrow." Tucker said. "We need to find your ghost friend, and fast." The bespectacled boy ran off, keeping his eyes peeled for the red hoody.

"What's going on?" Danny asked, coming up behind him.

"Someone's looking for him." Tucker said, the burning in his lungs making him regret not taking it a little slower.

"Like a ghost someone?" Sam asked softly.

"Like his Dad someone." Tucker said. "I'll explain when we find him."

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Across the street from the bustling carnival, Dick Grayson broke into a sneezing fit. Another waiter might have dropped the breakfast dishes, but he just kept moving across the restaurant floor. His Alfred impersonation almost matching up to the original until he set a short stack of pancakes in front of a pretty red head.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" He asked, leaning in with his most charming smile and gesturing at her empty coffee mug. A pretty pink blush spread across her cheeks and her friend giggled. "Or maybe you'd like to give me something, like a string of numbers maybe.'

"Johnson, get back to work!" The manager screamed from his office door.

Dick let out a partly exaggerated sigh and bowed with a regretful look on his face before going to pick up the next order. The girl's exited chattering followed him as soon as they thought he was out of earshot. His eyes drifted to the carnival visible through the window, it had been tricky getting a new job so soon, but carnivals, fairs and festivals were, in his extensive experience, trouble magnets. If a super villain was hatching a plan and there were any of those things nearby, chances were they'd use it to their advantage. Jason would know that, and he'd be watching.

A child walking down the street with her parents clapped her hands and giggled happily when a clown bend over to give a balloon animal. He had steel himself to keep from tackling the entertainer to the ground and calling a bomb squad. He wasn't in Gotham, and he hadn't so much as a mugging during his patrol slash search for little wing the previous night.

Smiling politely he took another order, unable to keep his main focus off the street and the noise across it. He had a feeling it was going to be a long, stressful day.

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.

When they found Danny he was leaning on a post near one of the game booths and watching with disinterest as some people tried to win it while he distractedly sipped on a slushy.

"'Sup." The ghost muttered looking at them with half lidded eyes. "You ride your destroyer yet?"

"The queue was too long, we'll have to do it tomorrow." Danny grinned. "Maybe by then you'll be less of a chicken."He couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw that his friend hadn't gotten into trouble, even if he looked pretty tired.

"You know you can fly, right?"Red caught sight of Sam and Tucker heading towards them and straightened up. "Hey Sam," he tilted his head at the game booth. "See anything you want."

"Those are rigged." The girl said, folding her arms and ignoring the angry glare shot her way by the man behind the counter.

"Come on." He smiled. "I'll bet I can get anything."

There was some snickering and Paulina walked by with Star, who waved at Red. Paulina whispered something in Star's ear as they stopped nearby, and Red tensed up. The slammed some money on the counter, startling both girls. Danny didn't want to think about where red had gotten that money from.

"So, uh Red." Tucker finally caught up with the rest of them. "I needed to tell you about…"

"Hold it." Red said, picking up one of the three balls put in front of him, then faster than Danny could follow he bounced each ball once on the counter, then threw them at the targets. Each one hit a perfect bulls eye, and Red smugly presented Sam with a basketball sized green spider plush.

"Thanks." Sam said, looking from the face of the shocked man to Red, then the other girls.

"Psh." Paulina scoffed. "I would have asked for the Sayonara Pussycat doll."

Red grunted and turned back to a frowning Tucker. "What did you want."

"Uh, yeah." The frown slipped off Tucker's face. "I was talking to…"

"Wouldn't you get it for me, Todd?" Paulina, stepped in front of Red, blocking off Tucker.

Danny had to push down the momentary excitement of having Paulina going so close to them, and on her own. By the look in his face, so did Tucker.

"I can get it." Danny blurted out and immediately wanted to slap himself for it.

"Really?" Paulina said excitedly. "Maybe I've been wrong about you."

The effect was kind of ruined by Red watching bemusedly and slurping loudly on his drink. Danny paid the man, who though skeptical, handed over the brightly colored plastic balls.

"Hey Todd." Star said.

"Test the weight before you throw, boss." Red said.

Danny nodded and bounced one of the balls the way Red had, though it didn't look half as impressive when the halfa did it. He didn't feel any more confident after that, but told himself that it was just like aiming his ecto-blasts. The balls flew from his hands, sailing for their targets… but only one hit it, and the other two bounced clanked onto the ground.

"Ugh," Paulina groaned. "I should have known. Come on Star, we have to get away from them before someone sees us."

"Wait, Paulina." Star tugged held Paulina in place and shot a look at Red. Paulina groaned again and put her hands on her hips, but stood in place.

Red's attention was back on Tucker. "I was talking to Valery, someone wanted you to meet…"

"I need to talk to him." Star said pushing past the techno-geek.

The next four things happened very fast: Danny's ghost sense went off, then Red pushed Tucker aside and threw his half finished slushy at the large ectopuss that appeared behind the girl.

"Run!" Danny shouted, then grabbed Red by his hood and pulled him along in search of somewhere he could safely transform. In the little time that took, two more ectopusses had shown up and the fair grounds were emptying fast.

"Distract them while I get everyone out." Red said, running to the center of the chaos, quickly disappearing in the wave of people.

The hero forced down his anxiety and charged at the nearest ghost. It tried to wrap itself around him, but Danny had fought these things enough times that beating them wasn't exactly hard work. With most of the people gone and no risk of any getting hurt, it only took a few minutes for Danny to knock the ghost out of the sky. It screeched right up until it crashed into the ground.

Before it got back up Danny sucked it quickly into the Fenton thermos and went after the next one. There were only a few stranglers still in the park, so spotting Red was easy, and so was the ectopuss closing in on him.

The young ghost was kneeling by one of the booths, trying to coax someone out from under it. He noticed the ectopuss just as it shot out one of its tentacles. Red barrel rolled away and ducked underneath another booth, but the ectopuss just went intangible and pulled the boy right through anyway.

"Oh crud." Red twisted, trying to loosen its hold while the monster began flying away. "Hey boss, airlift!"

Danny shot after the ectopuss, fists glowing a bright green, he rammed into it making it drop the young ghost and sending it right across the street where it crashed into a table in from of a restaurant. Danny gave chase and dropped Red right on top of it. Red swung off the rails of a balcony and launched himself at the other ghost, kicking it back across the street and away from the frightened people, then he followed after.

Danny quickly looked over the property damage he'd inevitably be blamed for, then hurried back to the fight. An ectopuss was trying to make off with his friend again, and Red was trying to beat it off with a metal beam.

"Adopt if you want one." He charged at it, firing off his ecto blasts. "There's plenty more in the Ghost Zone!"

He laughed off the rude gesture Red flashed at him, and didn't notice how intently the waiter was looking at them.

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Dick helped the customer up off the ground and into the marginal safety of the restaurant, his mind swimming. He barely heard the thanks he got before he sprinted outside and into the abandoned carnival where all the trouble had started. He didn't want to get his hopes up too high, that was one of the most dangerous things to do on any search mission, but it was hard to care.

There weren't many people who could pull off those moves, and only one who was so young. It had to be his Little Wing, and it looked like he'd gotten himself in trouble again. He tried to remember that this place had its own heroes, there was no guarantee it was him. Dick kept repeating to himself that there was no guarantee.

Then he heard the string of curses erupting from the boy's mouth and any pretense was thrown right out on its face. That was Jason, it had to be. He sped towards the voice in time to see the boy being pulled off his feet by the giant glowing octopus.

Dick charged at the monster, but it was vaporized and sucked into a flask by Danny Phantom, who waved at the other boy before flying off. The boy got back to his feet, his hood tipping off his head, revealing his shaggy, snowy white hair. Blood red eyes followed the flying hero and he boy grumbled something about flying.

He looked different, taller, paler, his hair longer, shaggy and the coloring was all wrong, his bright blue eyes gone Red, his posture was even off. But that face, that scowl was the same one Jason always sported when he was annoyed and frustrated on the training mat. He pulled the hood back up and scanned the area.

"Hey!" He called to Dick. "What are you doing here? Get lost."

What? Dick approached slowly, like he was getting near a skittish kitten. Whatever he'd been expecting, that wasn't it. Dick was there o save him, were things so bad between them that he thought his big brother wouldn't come to save him? Then again, Dick had never called Jason that, never said that he felt that way about Jason at all.

'I shouldn't have come,' Dick thought, 'he wanted Bruce to come, I should have let Bruce come.' Still he moved closer to the boy whose face was changing. Irritation melting away to something softer, kinder.

"Hey man, you okay?" The boy asked, his body language becoming warmer more opening.

If he wasn't so sure what it really felt like, Dick would have thought he was having a heart attack, it was Jason, in front of him, not dead and standing right there. There was a lump in Dick's throat, it was hard to breath and when he tried a sob escaped his throat.

Jason let out a surprised shout, and backpedaled. "Don't worry about it, Phantom'll get them gone. Do you need a doc…"

Before the boy could finish what he was saying Dick lifted his Little Wing off the ground in a hug that was both the tightest and the most gentle he'd ever given in is life. Jason was there, safe and alive and solid in his arms.

The he wasn't, and Dick was left holding only a bundle of fabric. His eyes shot up, dreading he would find that he was alone and he'd just hallucinated, and there was Jason, in a checkered while shirt with a J at the left of his chest.

"I'm sorry." Dick said, that had been weird, he'd bee weird and he'd probably nearly given Jason a stroke. "I'm so glad I found you Little Wing. You changed your hair, is that part of your new costume?" he took in a deep breath. "Alfred's gonna swarm you with the scissors when he sees how long it is."

"What?" Jason's eyes were so wide and he had to open and close his mouth a few times to get the next words out. "I, what are you talking about?"

"Red!" Phantom called and swooped past, lifting the trembling Jason off the ground and flying away with him. "GAV incoming."

While he watched them disappear. Just to be sure, Dick flipped on the tracer it on and watched the tiny little dot that was Jason move farther away, then the dot was gone, replaced by a glaring SIGNAL LOST. It had been Jason, there wasn't any doubt, but he'd been so tense and afraid.

Something had happened, and whatever it was it'd hit Jason hard, hard enough that Jason had let Dick see him scared. Dick put the tracer away and instead took out his own transmitter. He sent off the first of the it's three messages and the new that the target had been located flew back to Gotham.

Whatever was going on, Dick would get his little brother out of it, he would fix it, and when they got home, would make sure that Jason never looked like that ever again. He left the fairgrounds much less emotionally than he had entered them, his mission wasn't riding on hope anymore, now that he knew Jason was nearby, Dick wasn't going to let anything get on his way.

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Red looked pretty shaken up when he and Danny caught up to Sam and Tucker.

Tucker wanted to try talking to the ghost boy again, but Danny pulled the techno-geek aside before he had a chance and walked far ahead of the others with him.

"Don't say anything about it now." Danny said, peeking back at where Sam was trying to make conversation. "Something's wrong."

Tuckers heart sank, but he nodded anyway. One look at Red and even he could tell the ghost was one push away from his next freak out, and Tucker didn't want to be responsible for that. Not like it was Red's fault he had issues.

"Didn't you fight those things before." Sam asked, still holding onto the spider plush. "It kinda looked like they were a little too interested in Red."

"Great." Tucker groaned. "Something else that's interested in Red."

"I'm just that special." Red smirked. "Don't be jealous Tucker."

"I don't need to be special." Tucker said, he pulled out his PDA and held in affectionately against his cheek. "I'll be fine as long as I have my Carol." He was also fine with not being thrown around like a ragdoll by giant ghost octopuses.

The ghost chuckled with the rest of them, but pulled his hood lower over his eyes, and looked back in the direction of the carnival.

"Don't worry about the ghosts." Danny said, nudging Red with his elbow. "I've beaten them plenty times before."

"Psh." Red scoffed, "I'm not worried, that place just creeps me out." He grinned. "I just really hate clowns."

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It the depths of the Ghost Zone there was a bright flash, that lit up the islands surrounding it and chased several ghost poffs into hiding. A glossy, spherical object appeared and raced through the other worldly atmosphere.

It rotated fast enough that very few would have noticed that it was embossed with a stylized bat symbol.

In Batcave, the red and gold was gone.


	26. Chapter 26

Jack Fenton was down in his lab, a soldering iron held steadily in his hands while he carefully attached the last few components to what was shaping up to be one of his greatest inventions yet, aside from the Fenton portal of course.

"Steady." He said to himself, as he aligned the tough plastic cover he'd molded the night before, he had to be very careful not to jar any of the components until they were safely secured by the protective barrier. The soldering iron was switched out for a tiny electric drill and he got the outer cover into place.

"Maddie!" He called bounding up the stairs at a speed that was almost unnatural for a man his size.

"It's finished?!" His wife hugged him and took the device in her hands, looking it over with an exited gleam in her eyes. "I wait to test it out!" She said.

"What's going on now?" Jazz, asked from the top of the staircase. "Is something going to blow up again."

Jack laughed and held out the device. "The Fenton scanner!" He said. "With just a tiny piece of ectoplasm, it can track down the owner no matter where they hide! Huh, almost makes me wish that ghost boy would come flying through that door!" He pointed energetically at their front door.

Jazz looked at the door as though she really expected that to happen.

"You don't need to worry about that Sweetie." Maddie said sweetly. "No ghost will get anywhere near you, or your brother while were here."

"Speaking of Danny, I'm going to go and show him the Fenton scanner." Jack yelled and ran up the stairs. "Danny!" He pounded on his son's door, and when he didn't get a reply, figured that his son would have told him to get go away if he was busy. So he just slammed the door open.

"Danny boy! That fiendish ghost boy won't be getting away from us again!" He yelled into the empty room. That was strange, his eyes narrowed, he was sure he'd heard Danny just a few minutes ago.

"He's supposed to tell us before he leaves." Maddie huffed with a frown, and crossed her arms.

"You can't just barge into his room like that!" Jazz pushed both parents out of her brother's room and slammed the door shut. "Do you want him to lose all sense of privacy." She stomped away, grumbling angrily. "I can't believe them, so clueless. They're going to end up pushed right out of the… All they care about is their work…" Her voice faded out when she disappeared into her room, slamming her own door too.

Jack's heart sank, all the excitement of a moment before draining out of him. "Oh it's true Maddie." He moaned. "I hardly even see him anymore."

"Aw Honey." She said, gently patting his shoulder. "All children push their parents away sometime." She tapped her chin, her lovely violet eyes narrowing in though. "Though I suppose we have been working hard lately." She smiled. "We should take next weekend off, and go to that lake house. Have some family bonding time."

"The one from the TV!?" He didn't clap his hands, grown men didn't do that, but boy did he want to!

"You two really can't think of something that doesn't involve ghosts!" Jazz called from her room.

Both Fentons laughed at that. A family trip without ghosts? The very idea was ridiculous.

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Danny collapsed onto his bed as soon as he got home, wanting nothing more than to sleep through the night. It felt like ghosts of all kinds were popping up more and more frequently. The young hero was more tired now than he'd been since Spectra had been literally sucking the life out of him. Ghost attacks at all hours of the day had been bad enough, now they were going after him in the middle of the night as well.

Red was sitting on Danny's desk, looking out the window. Just the night before Danny had been woken by the young ghost beating a stringy ghost out of that window with a baseball bat. Since the Carnival a lot of ghosts had been singling Red out, trying to drag him away. Luckily none of them were a problem for the huge ghost. Danny was just worried that someone like Skulker would be next to go after the ghost child.

The halfa could feel the comforting tendrils of sleep pulling him in. Just as the world was getting dark and fuzzy, his bedroom slammed open.

Danny shot upright and Red phased under the table with a yelp and a loud thump, leaving his human clothes behind.

"Danny!" His father yelled, thankfully much louder than Red. "There you are, we've been waiting for you all day to give you the good news!"

"What?" Danny asked, still a little disoriented from his near sleep.

"Are you not feeling well Danny?" His mom pressed her cheek against Danny's forehead. "You're so pale."

"I'm fine."Danny pushed her away, taking a glance at the ghost crouched under the desk. "So what was the news?"

"Your father and I have noticed that we haven't had much family time lately, so we've decided that we'll all go on little trip. Don't make any plans this weekend, okay." His mother said.

"We're going to stay at a lake house." Dad yelled. "A haunted lake house."

"Oh." Danny slumped down again. "You know, I'm actually feeling kinda sick, maybe I should just stay home." He was having a hard enough time avoiding ghosts around town, he didn't want to go somewhere that was actually haunted.

"Nonsense, Danny." Dad said. "The weekend's still two days away, you'll be in great shape by then, and we'll have some father-son bonding time. There'll be fishing, ghosts, ghost fishing. It'll be great."

"You just rest up now." Mom said, brushing aside his hair. "And I'll bring you up some soup later."

His parents left and Danny let out a loud sigh, then went to lock his bedroom door. At least Red would be away from all the ghosts targeting him.

"Not like we were gonna get any rest this weekend anyway." Danny said to the half asleep ghost crawling out from under his desk. "You okay? I think we need a better way of hiding you from my folks. You sure you can't go invisible yet?"

"Meh." Red flopped onto the computer chair and looked out the window. "'m too tired to worry and so're you, try n sleep."

"You sleep, I'm used to this." Danny closed his curtain. "If a ghost comes in here we'll handle it."

"I'll handle it better if I can see it coming." Red pulled the curtain open.

"We'll handle it." Danny said, and closed it again.

"I told you before, it's not your problem." Red groaned and fell back into the chair.

"Ghosts are always my problem." Danny said, he'd already beaten back one ghost invasion, some extra ghosts wasn't going to break him. "My friends are my problem."

Red tensed up, and Danny thought he was going to change the subject like he did whenever he didn't want to talk about something. Then the ghost sighed and his boy sagged into the chair,

"It's not the ghosts." Red said. "I cant sleep because I'm being stalked." He looked back at the hidden window. "Since that freaking carnival. I told you carnivals were never good."

"We'll they won't find you at the lake house, so that's a thing." Danny said, going back to his bed. "At the lake, far away from the city, we'll see em… Wait." He frowned at the ghost opening his curtain. "How we gonna hide you from my folks."

"Easy." Red sat back on the desk. "I just won't go."

"You can't stay here alone." Danny said. "What happens if you have an accident with the ghost hunting equipment."

"I'm not a little kid." Red said, taking a scissors to his jester's hat.

"Or you could get stuck in the thermos." Danny grinned. "Hey Red, the thermos."

"Heck no." Red said. "I'm not a freaking pokemon."

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Saturday came and Danny finally got a chance to sleep, on the eight hour drive to the haunted lake house while Jazz was reading and his parents were talking excitedly about testing there new equipment. The thermos containing Red was tucked away safely in Danny's backpack.

The haunted lake house really looked the part. It was made of faded, grayish wood and surrounded for miles by dark creepy woods.

"If you need us we'll be looking for a good place to set up!" Dad said, his arms full of equipment.

"Have fun kids!" Mom called and the older Fentons ran off.

All Jazz did was sit on an old porch swing with her book and tell Danny not to get into any trouble. What she thought he would do in the middle of nowhere was anyone's guess. There were no other people around for miles. Danny wandered around the house, making a show of checking out the dusty old furniture whenever someone else walked by. He went into every room, then into the surrounding forest, waiting for his ghost sense to go off.

When he was deep enough into the forest that his parents wouldn't notice anything, Danny let Red out of the thermos near the lakes edge.

"I hate that thing." Red said. "I'm going to burn that thing in the darkest corners of the darkest place I can find." He glared at the thermos. "I can't believe I let you carry me in there."

"You should have taken the chance to relax." Danny said.

"See how well you relax when you're driving in a car with people yakking on about all the ways they can tear you apart." Red shook himself. "Did you know that ghosts melt?"

"My parents are harmless." Danny said, confident he could draw away their attention and free Red if he were ever caught. "You can hear when you're in the thermos?"

"Kind of." Red said, looking around at the darkening forest. "Anyway, what's the deal with this place?"

"Look here." Danny pulled out the pamphlet he'd stuffed in his pocket. "It says that the original owners just disappeared one day, and that anyone who stays overnight is harassed by their vengeful ghosts." He waved his hands and spoke in his deepest campfire voice.

"'Course." Red plucked the pamphlet out of Danny's hands. "That'd be much scarier if I weren't a vengeful ghost, maybe they have tea. Or…," he read from the pamphlet, "…we can slam doors, bust the fuse, scream in the woods. All the usual stuff." He frowned down at the paper. "Unless they want to, drag their hapless victims to their watery deaths at the bottom of the lake. "An icy wind blew through the darkening woods, and lifting leaves to swirl all around the two boys. Red sighed and gave Danny a bemused stare. "Ima be at that party for sure."

"You try dragging my family anywhere and you're going back in the thermos." Danny said, folding his arms and frowning at the ghost.

"Come on, just a little one." Red held his hands close together, a small smile on his lips.

"Don't even joke like that." Danny laughed.

Red stood at the edge of the lake and peered into its murky green water, his usual gloominess reasserting itself. "Where are they anyway?" He asked. "Wasn't your father all excited about father-son bonding time?"

"They're setting up their equipment." Danny said. "Do you remember anything about yours, maybe you used to go camping?" Danny had never thought of Red as someone who spent a lot of time outdoors, or someone who spent a lot of time indoors either, he wondered how much of the original person carried over to the ghost, if they even counted as the same person.

"Nah." Red submerged his hand in the water and splashed at a frog. "Hey, what's that?"

There was a shape across the lake, too far away for Danny to make out what it could have been, but it didn't have a ghostly aura so he wasn't too worried about it. "Probably nothing." The halfa said.

"Nothing?" Red looked over his shoulder, a sharp smirk on his lips. "Or the creature that got the original owners? Whatever happened to them must have been pretty grisly for them to stick around."

"It's not a ghost." Danny said. "Ghost sense hasn't gone off."

"I never said it was a ghost. Maybe they summoned something else, something they shouldn't have messed with…" The shape started drifting closer.

"No they didn't." Danny kept his eyes on it.

"Maybe they ticked it off and it's still taking out its aggression on whoever come to this lake house." Red went on.

"There's nothing like that here." Danny crossed his arms a frowned at Red.

"That's the real reason they haven't left, they're afraid of being found out by it, and they chase off anyone who tries staying here to spare anyone else the same fate they had to endure."The ghost boy said.

"I don't think a log could do that, Red." Danny said, only noticing how fast his heart had been beating when it slowed down at the now identifiable piece of wood floating across the water.

Red's excitement dropped and he tossed his hat at the log. "Wet blanket." He grumbled. "Still wonder what got this place it's reputation."

"You didn't hear my folks talking about it?" Danny asked.

"Hey I wasn't awake the whole time." Red shrugged.

"Speaking of my folks." Danny put a hand near his chin. "I haven't heard them in a while, we should probably get back before…"

"GHOST!" The older Fentons charged towards the lake, flinging the jack o'ninetales at Red.

The ghost took off running into the woods, Danny's folks not far behind. The halfa went after them, calling for his parents to wait.

"You can catch the next one Danny!" His Mom called back.

Red had run far enough away that Danny couldn't see him anymore, but he could clearly hear his folks shouting excitedly about catching the elusive lake ghost. The only way Danny could think of to get the ghost out of trouble was to transform into his ghost form and lure his folks away with the hope of a better catch.

'They'll probably think Phantom got me if they don't see me when they run back.' The idea was kind of funny if he didn't think about what they'd do to someone they thought had hurt one of their children. They'd put even more effort into chasing after him for the rest of his life. 'Hey.' Danny could almost feel the proverbial light bulb clicking on.

"Mom, Dad!" Danny screamed in his most frightened voice and jumped into the lake. "A ghost is dragging me into the water! Help!"

Within seconds, Jack and Maddie Fenton were calling his name and charging back through the trees. His dad pulled Danny out of the water while his mother shot at where he'd been with her ecto blaster. If he'd been fully human the guns wouldn't have hurt, but the few shots that grazed him stung even when he wasn't transformed.

"It's okay!" He said. "It's gone it swam away."

"What's going on here?" Jazz came stomping up to the rest of her family. She gasped and pulled Danny away from his Dad, hugging the boy to her. "You're all wet, what happened?"

"A ghost pulled me into the lake." Danny said.

"And I pulled you back out." His dad said proudly.

"They won't be trying that again." His mom holstered her blaster.

"A ghost all the way out here?" Jazz, hugged her brother tighter, seemingly ignorant of the fact that the place was supposed to be haunted, or maybe she'd just thought it was a hoax. She held onto him while she alternated between lecturing her parents about so much stress in his formative years and fussing over him.

Danny looked over her shoulder and saw Red stifling his chuckles from where he was half hidden in the shadows of some tree branches. Red held a finger up to his lips then pointed at the lake. There, floating just above the choppy water was a shape with two glowing red eyes.

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Everyone else had calmed down and settled in for the night, Red was safely back in the thermos where no one could find him.

Every time Danny started drifting off the old house made another creepy noise and dragged him back to wakefulness. He was still cold even with the mountain of blankets he'd been buried under by his overprotective sister and whenever he closed his eyes he could feel something watching him. He took a deep breath and sighed, a trail of vapor escaping his mouth.

It was only as he was watching it disappear that he remembered it was way too hot out for him too really be that cold. If a ghost attacked he wanted it as far from his family as he could get it. He took Red's thermos and tried to phase through the walls, but some electricity bounced off it and shocked him.

A ghost shield, that was good, it meant nothing could get into the house. He was going to give it up and go back to sleep when he heard a quiet 'clack, clack, clack,' echoing through the house. He told himself it was just his Dad tinkering with one of his inventions, but went to check it out, just in case.

Gripping the thermos tightly he tip toed across the creaky wooden floors. There was nothing in front of his parents door and he breathed out a relieved sigh. When he turned to go back something howled in the distance, sending shivers up his back.

Out the corner of his eye he spotted something.

A dark wavering mass hovered at the end of the hall. For a moment, nothing moved, then the creatures eyes fixed on Danny. The boy tripped in his haste to put some distance between them, dropping the thermos. It fell on the release button and Red appeared behind Danny.

Before the irate ghost had a chance to say anything, Danny grabbed hold of his head and turned it to the creature. All at once it lunged at them, both boy's let out a scream and ran away. They stumbled through the unfamiliar house, trapping themselves in dead ends and just barely managing to get away before the creature caught up to them.

Soon they found themselves cowering behind some boxes in the dusty, creepy attic.

"I can't believe we actually ran up here." Danny whispered. "It's the most cliché gets caught by the monster ending there is."

"Woods is worse." Red whispered back. "They always get chased down when they go for the woods."

They listened carefully for the clack clacking of the monster, eyes fixed on the ladder into the attic.

"Hey Boss?" Red looked at the other boy.

"Yeah." Something loud was thumping through the house now, Danny was tensed for the moment he saw it again. It's smoky form seeped into the room, drawing close to the two boys.

"Why are we hiding?"

Danny opened his mouth, the answer on the tip of his tongue when he realized that he had no idea. There was nothing about the situation that was too different from any other ghost they'd fought.

"I don't know." The halfa admitted. "You wanna..." He gestured at the door. "Let's just get this over with. I'm going gho…"

Before Danny had the chance to transformed his parents stormed into the room. The smoke ghost was wrapped in the jack o'ninetails and slammed to the ground. It reared back and tried to ram into its attackers. Then an ecto blaster was set off, flashing the monster's shadow across the walls.

Danny and Red watched from their hiding place, unable to look away.

"Boss." Red whispered. "Your parents are awesome."

"Yeah." Danny whispered back.

Neither of the boys noticed Jazz watching them from the top of the ladder.

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Sunday night Danny collapsed onto his bed and buried his face in the pillow. He let Red out and the ghost slumped into the computer chair.

"Not like we were expecting a break." Danny mumbled.

"Meh." Red yawned. "Breaks are for the weak."

"I'm feeling pretty weak right now." Danny groaned.

Red chuckled tiredly.

"Wanna watch a horror movie?"The hero cracked open an eye.

"You're the boss, Boss." Red spun in the chair and flicked on the computer.

It was an old movie about a haunted house where blood dripped from the walls and ghosts screamed in the basement. Danny and Red were asleep ten minutes in.


	27. Chapter 27

Most nights he slept in a ghost proof sleeping bag underneath Danny's bed to make sure he was safe from discovery whether the grown Fentons barged into the room in the middle of the night, or he went intangible in his sleep and phased through the floor and right into their laps. It was cozy, reminded him he wasn't in the Ghost Zone anymore. That was when he found it in himself to sleep at all.

So many nights he'd woken up with the intense fear that he was somewhere else, somewhere dark, and cramped and all alone, with that vicious laughter ringing in his ears. During the day he could ignore it easily enough, there was always something to keep him occupied. Nightmares were nothing new, he'd been having them since he'd found out what he was.

The questions haunted him, so many and none he had any guarantee of ever answering. How had it happened? Why had it happened. Who had done it. More importantly, who had he been waiting for, and why hadn't they shown up? Even without any memory of the event, without any images, or sounds but that laughter, the feelings left over when he woke up with his face smothered into his tear soaked pillow to muffle the screams told him enough. It hadn't been peaceful.

It was on nights like that, he knew he didn't want the answers.

This was one such night. He looked up at the flat surface above him, heard the steady breathing of the kid sleeping there. Like he'd done the night before, and the night before that, and many nights before that, he slid out from under the bed and opened the curtain. Under the pale moonlight the room became bright as day to what he assumed was already an unnatural night vision.

One last check to make sure the kid was asleep and he slipped out the window, carefully closing both it and the curtain behind him.

The air was crisp and clean, a cool night breeze feeing him of the clammy humidity of his little sleeping place. This darkness he could handle, the stars and moon, brightening up the quiet residential area. Too bad it wasn't what he craved.

The noise and bustle of a city that never slept, the smell of exhaust fumes from hundreds of cars filling his nostrils. Flying through the air with the freedom of knowing that someone would be there to pull him to safety were he to fall. A warm cup of coco after a hard nights work that left him with so much energy, yet kept him sleeping soundly the second his head touched the pillow.

These were all feelings that just barely tickled his consciousness, easy to ignore during the day when he was keeping an eye out for threats to the kid. Or at least they had been, until he'd agreed to go to that carnival with all of those clowns and that man who spoke like he knew him. Now even during the day he was haunted by those feelings, now tinged with loneliness and resentment.

That man who was still following him even now, bringing things to the surface he wanted to stay buried. A reminder that whatever he did, it wasn't good enough, that he didn't belong in the world. Didn't belong at that school with the kid and his friends, that they knew it too. He didn't blame them, it was a simple truth, and it was heartwarming that they tried at all.

So the boy they called Red, he couldn't call himself that anymore, wandered away from the quiet suburb and into the very center of the city of Amity Park. Here he could relax, it was familiar a small piece of home. The man was there again, hidden just out of sight. He was ignored and the boy searched out the hot dog stand he'd found on his previous excursions. They had chilidogs there, delicious, greasy, so hot they were almost hard to swallow.

While he walked he counted the little money he had, brushing aside his snowy bangs absent mindedly. A haircut really would be a good idea, that guy was right about Alfred… he tripped, his mind assaulted by the demonic laughter and a piercing headache. For a moment everything was so hot it burned, and he had to pull himself off the ground and stumble over to a street bench.

A few minutes later he could breathe again. He took out the money again and counted through it he'd have to get more or he'd have to choose before the haircut and chili-dog. Lowlifes selling things they shouldn't were hard to come by in this bright, clean city, but they weren't non-existent as his handful of remaining coins could attest to.

Food he didn't need won out over a haircut he sort of needed, and he ate it from the roof of the closest skyscraper he could find. Amity really was tiny for a city, at least compared to the blurry pictures that he woke with some nights. Still, the lights made for a great view.

He stood at the edge of the rooftop. If he fell, would he just wake up back in the Ghost Zone?

It didn't matter, crouched, coiling his muscles tightly, then sprang off the edge, his heart beat raced and for those few moments he could say that he really felt alive. It wasn't like he'd ever fallen before, he didn't need anyone to catch him. Ghosts couldn't have heartbeats, couldn't have the adrenaline rush that came with knowing that all it took to be a splat on the street was one wrong step.

His feet touched down on someone's balcony and a second later he was soaring upwards again, flinging himself to the next rooftop, and the next, and the next.

An exhilarating laugh burst from his throat. When he was like this nothing bothered him, he flew and it felt like nothing, not even his shadow, could catch him.

.

.

.

Valery walked through the dark city on her way home. Locking up the Nasty Burger got the best overtime, and the extra money would go a long way in making up for the times she was too busy to go to work. It wouldn't have taken so long if she hadn't dropped the keys down the drain just when she'd been about to leave though.

She could just picture her father, waiting worriedly by the door when he was supposed to be heading back to his own late night job. As she crossed the street to her apartment block, a shadow jumped from the roof, leaped across the streetlights like they were stepping stones, then began scaling the next. It stopped halfway up and somersaulted off the wall, flipping off a store sign and landing in front of her.

"Hey Val." Red said, a huge grin on his flushed face. "What're ya doing out so late, a ghost hold up?"

"Just one." She said as the boy mopped his clammy face with his sleeve. "And you? Phantom got you patrolling his haunt." Valery wasn't too surprised to see the young ghost around so late, she didn't know if ghosts even needed sleep, and if they did then this one was definitely nocturnal with how much he'd slept in class recently.

"The boss, nah." He leaned against a pole, catching his breath. "Long as I don't get myself killed, he doesn't care."

"Then what're you doing?" She asked, only now catching the mild smell of smoke wafting off him, the reference to dying only barely registering.

"Getting a snack, some exercise." He laughed. "Scared the pants off a cat burglar a while ago." He looked so relaxed, his hands shoved in his pockets while he spoke gain she noticed how much like a living boy he was. "Was climbing through a window when I hopped in front of him and fell through the fire escape. Proly thought a was the ghost of a… ya know I haven't seen ya around lately."

Apparently school didn't count, like he didn't want Fenton and his dorks knowing they knew each other. How he even knew the boy was still a mystery, but seeing as how the ghost portal was in the Fenton home, Phantom would have had to go through the house to bring Red through, and Red had to go through every time he went home. Fenton probably helped with getting them past his parents, maybe under coercion by the powerful ghost.

The ghost that was somehow controlling Red.

"Listen Red, did Tucker get you my message?" She asked.

"A message?" He cocked his head a little to the side.

Valery groaned. She knew she shouldn't have trusted that boy for something so important, he was just the only one Reds human friends she thought would hear her out.

"Yeah, we really need to talk, you see I've heard from someone who…" She began.

"Wait." Red suddenly looked very uncomfortable, his already pale skin going milk white, the ghostly aura shining through whatever he used to dampen it, wide red eyes narrowed at something behind her. "He's making a move." He gripped her shoulders. "Get inside." The he was scaling the building again, almost at the top in seconds.

Valery was going to call him back, this was no time for jokes, or ghostly weirdness, then there was a swishing sound and something hooked into the wall near the ghost. A shadow, black with just a hint of blue, was after Red. Both of them were gone before she could complete a thought. The thought she did complete was that Phantom knew what she'd been wanting to tell Red and had sent someone to stop her.

It didn't take long to banish those thoughts as ridiculous, but by that time she'd already changed into the Red Huntress and was chasing after them.

It took her a while to spot him darting across the rooftops, he somehow managed to blend into the shadows even with his bright red hoody and still move faster that anyone she'd ever seen. His pursuer was faster still, a man in a mask slowly gaining on the ghost.

"Here!" She steered towards the young ghost and reached an arm for him.

He leaped over the building edge landing behind her just as the man reached for him, she sped away as fast as she could.

"Who is that?" She asked, looking back at the man.

"I told you to go inside." He took her ecto blaster out of her holster and aimed it at the man.

"Is he overshadowed?"

"Nope." He fired off a few shots, some hitting the still running man, knocking him off balance. Her weapons only worked on ghosts, they couldn't hurt humans, but the blasts were enough of a distraction to slow the man down. Still he gained on them, Red swore and gave her back the blaster.

"Listen Val." He felt for something behind him, then tugged at his hoody. "This guy has nothing to do with ghosts. You see my boss, I'd appreciate you not saying anything 'bout it." She would have sworn his piercing red eyes had caught hers right though the visor.

She nodded and he gave her a small, grateful smile, then dived off her board and hit the ground running. He disappeared into the narrower, more shadowy alleys and the man went after. Valery spent almost an hour looking for them, then her cell rang and she knew she had to get home.

.

.

.

Danny'd thought Red had just been really tired when he'd woken up and the ghost hadn't been sitting by the desk like usual. It wasn't like the ghost needed to shower or get dressed, and he always ate at school, so Danny hadn't thought to wake him up.

After breakfast, when the halfa had looked all around his yard and he still hadn't any sight of his friend he's rushed back upstairs and checked under his bed. Red wasn't there, Danny had pushed down his panic and gone into the basement to check all of the ghost containment equipment, still no young ghost.

His folks lacked the excitement that would have followed had they caught the ghost that'd gotten away at the lake house, they were fixated on some news report about a vigilante. There has to have been zero ghost activity for them to be interested in that.

He went ghost and flew invisibly to the school on the unlikely chance that Red had just wanted to get an early start. Sure enough he caught sight of the ghost at the school.

"Red!" Danny called, he landed in a storage closet and transformed back, he gripped the ghosts shoulders and shook him. "What are you doing!?"

Reds eyes were somewhere behind the halfa when he spoke. "Going to school." Red yawned.

"You can't just disappear like that." Danny half shouted, his worry turning to anger now that he knew the ghost was fine. "I almost thought my folks got you."

"Jeez, nothing happened, Boss. I went for a midnight walk and lost track of time" Red shrugged, sending a pointed look around the hallway, his way of telling Danny not to draw attention."I gotta get to my locker, seeya later"

"You were out all night?!" Danny reached out to stop the ghost, but he just twisted out of reach and walked on, waving without looking back. "Boss." Danny growled. He didn't follow after the ghost, calming himself down as he went to his own locker instead dangerous at night. If something had happened to Red, Danny might not have ever found out.

For all his fancy flips, Red wasn't a very powerful ghost, Skulker, Walker, even the GIW, any of them could have found the young ghost wandering around alone. It wasn't like he expected Red to check in before he went anywhere, he hardly ever had the ghost in his sights at school, but at least during the day any ghost activity would be breaking news. He'd know where to look if Red got taken.

Danny hadn't forgotten about the ectopusses trying to carry his friend off at the carnival. They'd nearly succeeded too.

"Why the long face?" Tucker asked, then carried on before Danny could answer. "Wait." He held a hand in front of the halfa. "Let me guess, it was the ghost."

"He snuck out in the middle of the night." Danny groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. "He's like a…"

"You're the one who said you were going to release back into the wild when he could take care of himself." Tucker said. "He's gotta learn to take care of himself sometime."

"That's not funny Tuck." Danny sighed. "He could have gotten hurt."

"What going on now?" Sam asked, slinging backpack over her shoulder.

"Red's going through a rebellious phase." Tucker laughed.

Danny was about to object, it wasn't like the ghost had anyone to rebel against, when they got to class. Red was already by his desk, and asleep before school had even started. The halfa groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face.

There was no time for him to wake the ghost before the class started. Mister Lancer walked in and, as per usual, droned on about some poem with so many thees and thous that It was hard to even make sense of.

Surprisingly, the teacher was already halfway through with the lecture before he noticed that one of his students was sound asleep. He wouldn't have noticed at all if it weren't for Dash.

"Mister Lancer." The jock raised his hand. "Reed's sleeping in class again."

Lancer walked up to Red's desk and slammed his book down right next to the boys head. Red woke up instantly, a pencil in his hand , but didn't jump like the rest of the class had been expecting him to.

"Mister Reed." Lancer said in his usual lecturing voice. "I know the poetry of the eighteenth century might seem a little dull to you, but they will make up a large part of you grade this semester."

Red peered down at the book cover and shrugged, handing it back to the teacher. "Meh, I prefer Edward Young." His disinterested gaze was on Lancer only long enough for the lecture to begin anew, then Red looked out the window and barely moved for the rest of the period, like he was sleeping with his eyes open.

Danny wanted to question the ghost about what he'd been doing the night before, but as the rest of the students filed out, Lancer called Red to stay behind. Not long ago and it had been Danny being held back by Lancer almost every day. That hadn't happened in a while.

The ghost showed up to math class ten minutes late, gave the teacher a pass and took a seat near the back. He was asleep minutes later. Danny caught a grin from Valery when she noticed, instead of saying anything, the girl just lifted up her notebook, blocking the teacher's view of the ghost.

By lunch Red had disappeared. Whatever illness he'd put down so teachers allowed him to wear the hoody in class really gave him a lot of leeway, and Danny was given a few extra homework sheets to bring his friend. He hadn't been staying much longer than that for days.

"Man, you need to stop worrying so much." Tucker said, shaking his head. "Let's go catch a movie, get your mind off it, you in Sam?"

"I don't think…" Danny began.

"If you smother him he'll just blow up at you again." Sam said. "A monster movie's just what you need.

So after school, instead of going home the three of them went to a weekday showing of a B rate horror movie. The effects were awful, the acting was awful, and the plot made no sense. It was the most relaxed Danny had been in months.

"Next time, we gotta sneak into the unrated version." Tucker was saying excitedly, his mouth full of left over popcorn while they wandered the crowded mall afterwards.

"Yeah." Sam said. "Next weekend's the new Dead Teacher."

"That's out already." Tucker groaned. "Aw, man, how'd we miss the opening night?"

"I heard they actually show the maggots in the Dead Teacher's face." Danny said. "Imagine the Lancer nightmares we're going to have afterwards." He laughed.

"I'll bet he loves when those movies come out." Tucker said. "How many more kids finish their homework?"

"Not you." Sam laughed, and at Tucker's indignant expression, so did Danny.

"I do mine more often that you." Tucker threw a handful of popcorn at his friends, a grin still on his face.

They stepped outside, and almost right away Danny's ghost sense went off. "Like clockwork." Danny groaned, anytime he was doing something normal a ghost just had to show up and mess ruin it. Danny ducked behind a display and went ghost. He went behind the building, Sam and Tucker not far away.

"There he is." The ghost chuckled madly. He looked like a glowing, orange cross between a human and a hyena. "You the one, the one making such a fuss in the Ghost Zone. Oscar heard about and wanted to see for himself, yes he did."

"Tell Oscar to come back tomorrow." Danny's hands lit up warningly, taking a stance in front of his friends.

The ghost just threw back his head and laughed some more, ghostly hyenas appearing behind him. "Oscar sees you now." The hyenas approached, all growling menacingly. Danny counted five of them. "He wants to see the other one too. Where is the other one, they said he would see?" He bent forward, looking for something behind Danny. The ghost was looking for Red as well.

"Nevermind." He snapped his fingers and two of the hyenas took off running past Danny, their giggles fading out. "Oscars pets will bring it, they will and he will see them together."

Danny tried to run after the hyenas, but the ghost sicked the rest of them on he and his friends.

"Danny." Sam and Tucker called at once.

He pulled them off the ground and tried to fly them away, but the ghosts flew afted him, yipping and howling all the while. He had to get them to safety before he could even think of fighting off their attackers.

.

.

.

Jason was leaping from building to building, barely visible to the people going about their business below. If they'd been in Gotham, Bruce would have had a fit, flaunting skills in broad daylight without good cause was just risking their secret identities for nothing.

This wasn't Gotham, and Bruce was literally a world away.

Dick followed stealthily after the boy, doing his best to keep out of sight. He knew Red could spot him though, even if only briefly when he had to leave cover to keep moving. The boy looked back uneasily, catching a glimpse of the ex-Robin. Dick wanted to laugh, it was like playing both tag and hide 'n seek at the same time, being quiet was a big part of winning.

He'd almost moved to speak with Jason last night, but the boy had run into another of the city's resident heroes and gotten spooked. Dick had followed him, all night, and back to the school, hoping for a chance to say something, but just when Jason had been alone again he'd taken off running with none of the giddiness from before.

At first he's thought that maybe Jason was looking for a quiet place where he could confront his stalker, but even though many such places came by he just kept going, a challenging glint in his unnatural red eyes. It was a game of endurance then, if Dick wanted a chance to speak he'd have to outlast his little brother.

There was an echo of yipping, and Jason's attention was drawn from his next jump. As the boy turned to investigate, so did Dick, Jason did know the world better after all. Then something appeared behind a few meters behind him.

Before Dick could call out a warning, a glowing orange dog launched itself at his little brother. It's jaws clamped down hard on the boy's shoulder, tackling him into the gravel of a nearby rooftop.

Jason let out a shocked cry and tried to dislodge the beast with blows from one fist, the dog just bit down harder with an audible crunch. Jason's cry this time was softer now that he was ready for it, but no less sickening to his older brother's ears.

The other dog advanced but before it got anywhere near the boy, a pair of wingdings with pale, shimmering edges was lodged in its front legs, almost severing the limbs. Dick charged forward, throwing another wingding at the dog champing on his brother.

Jason had only been in its grip for a few seconds, but his left arm was hanging limply, sticky red blood dripping off his fingertips when he unsteadily got to his feet. He propped himself against the railings and pulled aside his red hoody to get a look at the wound. The fabric scratched and he hissed, looking at the mangled flesh near enough his neck that another inch would have been fatal.

"Little Wing!" Dick caught the boy before he could topple over the edge of the roof. Jason leaned in for a moment, his eyes, glazed over. Then he was aware again and pushing Dick away, stumbling back until he was steady on his feet.

"Creep." He spat, accusation in his eyes, one hand pressing on the wound to try and stem the blood flow. The red hoody camouflaged the blood, hiding how bad it really was but Dick had caught a glimpse of it and now came closer. "What did you do?"

Dick felt he should have guessed that Jason would blame something like this on him. After all they were both trained by someone so paranoid it was considered his superpower.

"Stand still." Dick took hold of the boys healthy shoulder and, with bandages ready to show his intent, he helped Jason unzip the hoody, revealing the torn checkered outfit underneath. Jason flinched at the sight of the little flask of cleaning alcohol, and bit down on a wad of fabric from his hoody when Dick poured the stinging liquid onto the wound.

It was a small comfort that Jason knew enough to trust Dick to take care of it. Somewhere he was still familiar with Dick as an ally. It only took a few seconds for Dick to have the wound cleaned and dressed, then hid the bandages under his hoody again and grabbed two of the new wing-dings and ran off.

"You're too hurt to help them." Dick tried to grab the injured boy.

Whatever pain or weakness Jason was feeling was over ridden with adrenaline and he ducked away from the man's reach. If he didn't know where he was going he put on a very convincing act. Dick retrieved the remaining wingdings and followed after, regretting that he was in casual wear, most of his gear was with his Nightwing suit.

Soon they came to a suspiciously empty park, the yipping and laughing of more glowing hyenas audible even a block away. Phantom was trying to fend off the dogs while protecting his two friends, who were firing at the dogs with wrist blasters.

Civilians present made the situation tricky, so Dick paused just across the street to come up with a plan. Jason, however, just charged strait into the fray, one wingding in his good hand and another in his mouth. One of the sharp weapons lopped made a shallow cut at the back of a dogs neck and kept going to lop off another's ear. Jason was too dizzy to aim properly, and stumbled when he made his landing, but managed to stay on his feet.

Phantom greeted the other boy with a relieved grin. Jason tried brandishing his remaining wind-ding like a knife, slashing at the dogs to keep them away from the civilians while Phantom tried to push them away. The wingding cut Jason's hand almost as much as his opponents.

A dog's jaws came close to the girl and Jason leaped in front of them shoving the wingding into its mouth, almost getting his arms bitten off in the process. Another dog charged at him and Phantom flew between it and his teammates, one arm flung out. The dog wound up crashing into a transparent shield.

Jason, now weaponless tried to fend off a dog from the other side, kicking it's muzzle away. Phantom was occupied with one that was on top of him, it's teeth snapping dangerously close to his face.

Dick threw a pair of real knives at Jason's feet and the boy wasted no time in putting them to use. Every time a dog went down they evaporated into wisps of orange smoke and a new one formed. To beat them the source had to be taken out.

That was easy enough for Dick to do, a glowing half-man stood laughing at the sidelines, just beyond the tree's and out of the boys' reach. Dick moved stealthily to the hysterical thing and crept up behind it.

The first sign it had of his presence was a punch to it's jaw from faintly glowing knuckle dusters. It went crashing into a nearby tree, and before it good get to it's feet got another punch, this time right in it's gut. It doubled over, clutching it's midsection in pain and crying out.

Dick smirked, whatever was said about Bruce, he worked really fast and his results couldn't be questioned.

He picked the scruffy dog-man by the front of its ratty shirt and slammed it into the tree again.

"You wanna tell me what you're doing?" Dick asked with a pleasant smile.

It was clear from the things face that he could tell Dick's mood was as far from pleasant as it could get. This was the thing that had hurt his Little Wing, and it would pay.

"Humans don't mess in Oscars affairs, no they don't." He choked out, Dick's free hand now tightening around it's neck.

"Don't get cute now." Dick sang, pressing a wing-ding against the monster's face, making a knick just deep enough to show he meant business. The hand around his throat was likely the true motivator though.

"Powerful ghost wants it." Oscar forced the words past the constriction in its throat. "Wanted to see the Phantom and take it to the ghost. Get power, get all power." The high-pitched voice was grating on Dick's nerves, but at least that was something.

Just past the trees, he heard Jason curse just past the trees and Dick tightened his hold on the man-dog.

"Call them off, all of them." He ordered.

Oscar nodded jerkily and the sounds of the dogs disappeared. Dick had no way of containing it, or stopping it from summoning more of those animals, so he swung his fist one more time and threw the disoriented monster at the kids who'd been fighting the dogs.

Before they thought to look for Dick he was already gone.

.

.

.

After he'd gotten hold of those knives Red had torn through the hyenas like they were nothing. He'd held them off while Danny had flown Sam and Tucker away from the fight, and when the halfa had gotten back it was already over. Red, covered in mud and ectoplasm was holding Oscar down for Danny to trap into the thermos.

Danny wanted the first thing he said to be about Red disappearing at the worst times, he's brought him out of the Ghost Zone to keep him safe after all. But Danny was the one who'd nearly been torn apart by dogs while the only thing wrong with Red was some reddish mud caking his neck and hoody. If the young ghost had been with Danny, he might have gotten hurt at the onset of the fight.

"Where'd you get those?" Danny gestured at the shimmery edged knives Red was examining.

"A creep." Red was sitting on the ground, his back against a tree. "Sam and Tucker okay?"

"They're fine." Danny said. "We were gonna hit the arcade in a few minutes, wanna come."

Red shook his head. "Was gonna meet up Val, had something to tell me." He rested his head against the tree and smirked. "Give me a call if you get chased by any more Chihuahuas."

Danny punched Red's shoulder playfully and got up. "Maybe when you can control your intangibility. Seeya later."

"Later Boss." Red waved him off, and yawned.

Red had been all cleaned up when Danny saw him again, the only signs the ghost had even been in a fight the few tear in his hoody. That thing was starting to look pretty ratty, not that Red seemed to notice. The ghost was asleep hours before Danny, or so the halfa had thought.

It the middle of the night Danny was woken by a hand being pressed over his mouth. Before Danny had a chance to panic the intruder raised a hand to his own lips and pointed at the roof before jumping out the window. Danny checked under his bed for Red, but the ghost was gone.

He didn't want to give anything away that the man might now have known already, so instead of going ghost, he crept up to the roof in his human form.

The man was sitting with his legs thrown over the edge of the roof and fiddling with small back that clinked when he moved it. He was wearing a black body suit with some blue accents and a bird on his chest. Danny's ghost sense didn't go off though, so he was human despite his clothes.

"What do you want?" Danny asked, trying to keep alert in case the man attacked.

"Not a fight." He turned to Danny with a smile on his face, it was the masked man who'd come through the Ghost Zone looking for his brother.

"Do you still need help with your brother, I can call my folks if you want." The halfa had a feeling this man hadn't come to see either Jack or Maddie Fenton.

"I've already found him." The man took something out of a compartment in his belt.

Danny went forward cautiously, to have a look at the pieces of paper. One was the picture he'd shown when he'd asked about his brother. The other was Red!

"Where is he?" Danny asked his eyes glowing a ghostly green. If this man wanted to use Red to make him look for…

The man started laughing, a light, cheerful sound that didn't carry any hint of mockery. And Danny's train of thought was derailed entirely.

"He just went on his nightly walk." The man said. "I figured you knew about those." He held the pictures to the halfa again. "Take another look."

Danny did, he studied both pictured under the ample light of all the ghost hunting equipment on the roof. Robin was grinning cheekily, leaning against a huge smirking man in a bat suit. Red was napping nestled between some rafters and a rooftop on the side of a skyscraper. Red was thinner, and paler, his didn't have those same short curls as the Robin.

But the rest… his face and the way Red stood when he was getting into a fight he knew he'd be winning… The most glaring difference, past the coloring and build. Red was a ghost. Danny's heart turned to ice, colder that when he was in ghost form even.

He looked up at the man's warm, open face. Danny said the first words he could think of.

"I'm so sorry." Danny stepped away. "I didn't know, if I did I would have…"

"I know." The man tucked the pictures away again. "He doesn't look like him, huh?"

Danny shook his head dumbfounded. He wasn't sure what to say. This man had really gone so far to find the little brother he'd lost. The young hero remembered a conversation he'd had on that same roof before. Just after Red had found out that he was a ghost. Danny had asked if there was anyone Red wanted to see, anyone who cared about him.

Red had said no, and all the while, this man was looking for him in the Ghost Zone.

"Do you know what happened to make him like this?" The man asked, bringing Danny out of his thoughts again. "Was there anyone nearby when you met him?"

"He doesn't remember." Danny said. "Does he know about you?" The man shook his head and Danny immediately went ghost. "I have to tell him, did you see where he went?"

"Not now!" The man was on his feet. At turned his confused look to the man, Red thought that he was all alone, that no one from his own life cared about him. If Danny kept this from him then what kind of friend was he?

"I tried." The man said. "At that carnival a while ago, our whole family's pretty paranoid and that just made it worse." His smile was sad now and he gestured for Danny to settle down. "He won't believe it without proof.

"So what did you come here for then?" Danny asked.

"I wanted to thank you for helping my Little Wing." The man grinned. "I know he can be a bit difficult sometimes. I also wanted you to give him this." He tossed Danny the bag he'd been messing with earlier. It was filled with some sharp bird shaped blades with familiar pale glowing edges and a smaller mask like the one he was wearing. "What you kids are doing is pretty dangerous, he knows how to use those. "These are for you and your friends." He gave Danny a pack of earpieces and a little box. "Communication is important in the field. I don't think he'd take it from me."

"Are you a family of ninjas or something?" Danny looked up from the gadgets only to see that the man was already gone.

Danny went back to bed, but he was still awake when Red, no when Robin came in through the window. His family was looking for him, the man in the bat suit had looked older, maybe a father. Who else, siblings, grandparents? Who else was waiting for the ghost boy to come home? That they wanted him even if he wasn't human anymore. How could they make him believe what his brother had tried to tell him.

Before he had fallen asleep, he came to the only answer that made any sense. To help Red in any meaningful way Danny had to make the ghost remember.


	28. Chapter 28

"Danny's grades were slipping. He'd noticed it before, but it just hadn't seemed all that important with everything else that was going on. Failing had only been an abstract thought in the back of his mind before, but now with that big test not far off he was worried.  
Now the algebra scribbled on the board was giving him a headache, he had no idea what he was supposed to do with those numbers. He sat and staring at them, hoping he'd somehow remember the lecture he hadn't been paying attention to. Tucker was pretty good at math, maybe he could explain it, if only the other boy weren't sitting so far away.  
Tucker wasn't the tutoring type anyway, he just get distracted and they'd end up playing video games for the rest of the day. Sam was his next best bet, but lately she'd been zoning out even more than Danny. He suppressed a groan and looked back at the board, an answer still no closer to springing onto his page.  
At the rate he was going he was considering something drastic, like asking Jazz to help him. Then he'd have to sit through hours of her psychoanalyzing him and he'd never be able to focus.  
"Mister Reed!" The teacher growled out, and Danny's attention was drawn to the ghost who'd once again fallen asleep. Most of the class laughed Red sitting looking up at the teacher with half lidded eyes. She gave Red her chalk and the ghost grumpily got up to scrawl the solution on the board, not even taking his left hand out of his pocket.  
Danny had never seen a teacher more angry at a right answer in all the horror movies he'd ever watched. Danny still hadn't figured out a way to help the ghost reconcile with his brother. Neither of them seemed to mind though and things just carried on as usual. If only they'd slow down enough for Danny to get enough study time in.  
Afterschool Danny did wind up asking Tucker for help with his math, and the they both wound up at the arcade, even dragging Sam along with them. The three of them spent almost two hours with plastic guns in their hands trying to beat the ridiculous high score on a shooter game. Just when they were about to leave Tucker caught of a new machine that mainly consisted of two metal bars and a counter. "No way." He said. "I've always wanted to try one of these." He rubbed his hands together and grinned.  
"Why, what is it?" Danny looked the machine over, it didn't even look like a game.  
"It shocks you when you hold on to the metal bars." Sam said. "It's dumb Tucker, why would you even want to do that?"  
"It also spits out tickets every second you hold on." Tucker shrugged. "How hard can it be." The boy straightened his beret and squared his shoulders. He took a deep breath while Danny and Sam watched closely. For a moment Danny wondered if standing back and watching while is friend electrocuted himself was something normal people did.  
Tucker grabbed hold of the bars and immediately jerked back with a yelp. Danny and Sam both doubled over with laughter. Tucker groaned and hung his head low. "Man, I hope there weren't any babes watching that."  
"I wouldn't count on it." Danny pointed at a group of girls giggling at the bespectacled boy.  
"Let's get outta here before he embarrasses himself even worse." Sam laughed.  
All it took to get Tucker back in high spirits was a trip to the Nasty Burger and the promise of a huge piece of meat in front of him.  
"Feels like it's been forever since we've been here." Danny said, sinking into his seat. He looked around the familiar diner, half expecting something to pop up and force them to leave. They were almost done eating when one of the employees moved towards their table. "Chill Danny, it's just a waiter." Tucker said.  
A very familiar waiter. His nametag read RICHARD in neat print. "Can I get you kids anything else?" The man smiled.  
"Is there anywhere you don't work?" Danny blurted out, he'd seen Richard at both the ice-cream parlor and some fancy restaurant around the block.  
"Guy's gotta make a living." Richard shrugged and Danny was a little unsettled by how familiar he was, it was almost like the guy was being over shadowed by one of Danny's more common ghosts.  
"I think were good." Sam said. "Just the check."  
"Aw, no desert?" The man shook his head like he was really disappointed. "You spent all your money at an arcade, didn't you?" A second later he was smiling again. "I'll be right back."  
"He's way too peppy for minimum wage." Tucker said, watching the waiter leave.  
"I bet it's his first day." Sam said, her eyes were also on the waiter but much lower than the back pf his head. "The system hasn't had a chance to grind him down yet."  
"We still on for Dead Teacher tonight?" Tucker asked before shoveling a mountain of fries into his mouth.  
Danny groaned and slapped himself, knotting the hand in his air. "I completely forgot to study today."  
"Don't sweat it." Tucker said. "You can do that tomorrow. I can come over and…"  
"No thanks." Danny cut him off. "I can't get off track again. I'll have to keep at it all day if want to be done in time for the movie.  
"But you will be there?" Sam pressed, both her and Tucker looking a little more serious than usual.  
"As long as a…"  
"Don't say it!" Both Sam and Tucker covered his mouth, preventing him from finishing his sentence. "You'll jinx it!" Tucker said, suffocating Danny with his tight hold.  
"Okay, okay." The halfa pushed his friends away. "I won't say it, now get off me."  
Danny had only managed to free himself from Tucker when the waiter got back.  
"Young love." Richard sighed and shook his head fondly.  
"Were not in love!" Danny and Sam pulled away from each other. Seriously, how many times could people make that mistake?  
"Don't worry, I believe you." Richard collected the filled check and set four to go pudding cups in front of them. "On the house" He said. "Pink one's vegan for lady." He looked at Danny, his smile softening. "And you'll give the yellow one to Little Wing, wont you?" Danny almost choked on the last sip of his soda, and Richard chuckled as he moved on to another table.  
What was that about?" Tucker asked, a frown on his face.  
"One of Red's friends." Danny tossed the extra pudding in his backpack while the three of them got up to leave. There was something written on his napkin and he hid it before Sam and Tucker could see.  
"Red has friends?" Sam asked, her eyes widening.  
"Who d'ya think he skips school with? The box ghost?" Tucker said, a spoonful of the desert in his mouth before they were even out the door. "Where ever it's from, Tucker Foley doesn't say no to perfectly good free food."  
Danny only got a chance to read Richards message when he got home that night. "In case of emergency" And a phone number signed with a smiley face. Danny had a feeling he'd be needing it soon.

Spending your entire Saturday at a library wasn't something most teens would choose. It was, however, fairly common for Jazz Fenton. Soon she'd have college to think about, sometimes she was worried that it was all she ever thought about. When she was a successful psychologist she'd have all the time she wanted to have fun, well that was what she told herself.  
She yawned and stretched, her back straightening with some satisfying pops. For one day, she'd done enough, all she had to do was finish off her book report and she'd be ready to leave, maybe get some lunch. A few minutes later she'd finished packing up and was on her way to check out some new psych books that had come in.  
As she neared that section of the library she caught sight of a very familiar, if unexpected head of black hair at another table. His lips moving as he read.  
"Danny?" She called, just to be sure. He looked up and quickly slammed shut the book he'd been reading, throwing his arms over it for good measure. "What are you doing here?"  
"Jeez, Jazz is it a crime to spend some time studying?" He glared at her as though daring her to make a big deal out of it.  
"Whoa, Danny. You don't have to get so defensive." She waved her hands and read the cover of his book. "I didn't know trauma and memory loss was something they were covering in freshmen year. What's going on?"  
He tensed up, and she had the feeling he really wanted her to leave. "It's for a friend."  
The same one he'd asked her for help with before, she guessed. At the time she'd thought he was talking about himself, and had given him advice that she'd hoped would help him finally tell her about his ghostly activities. Since then he'd only gotten more secretive though, and she'd been worried that she'd given too much away.  
Then she saw Danny's new friend at her family's idea of a weekend vacation, and the boy clearly wasn't as human as he pretended to be. It was a good start anyway, him asking her for help with a ghostly friend. Normally she'd have told Danny to get his friend into therapy, but the one ghost therapist she'd seen wasn't exactly encouraging.  
"So, now your friend can't remember things?" She asked pulling out some similar books from the shelves. She just had to show that she could help without being pushy. His body language was a little more open now.  
There were more books scattered around the table, books that were actually on subjects he had at school. Danny really had been trying to study. Jazz was so proud to see that her little brother was working so hard, even with all the ghost fighting he did.  
"I thought it was just because…" Danny cut himself off and changed his sentence halfway. "because he was sick, but there are other people like him who do remember."  
"Sometimes trauma patients suppress their memories until they're stable enough to deal with them." Jazz said. "It's what their minds do to keep them from going crazy. The more comfortable he is the faster he'll heal, maybe you could try getting him to do something he likes.  
"He doesn't like anything." Danny chuckled. "He has this hat that he really hates though, and the circus."  
"Where did you meet him?" Jazz asked. She could practically see the walls being thrown up around Danny as soon as he heard that question and she mentally backtracked. "Never mind, that's not important. Just, being around something familiar might help jog his memory."  
"Like his family?" Danny asked. "Would it work if I could get them to spend some time together?"  
"If he has any I guess that would help." Though Jazz couldn't see how Danny would find an amnesiac ghosts family.  
He looked happy for a second, then sunk into his seat again. "Jazz, what if what happened was so bad that remembering just makes things worse. I mean, what if he has a breakdown or something?"  
"Everybody deals with things differently Danny." Jazz said. "But not remembering won't change what happened or how it affected him. If he never remembers then he'll never heal." She leaned over to give him a hug. "I'm so proud of you for giving psychology a try."  
"Thanks." He leaned away, a feint blush creeping into his cheeks. "Could you just not do that it public?"  
"Oh right, sorry." She pulled away, sparing her little brother his teenaged pride.  
"I gotta meet up with Sam and Tuck soon." He swept all of his books into his bag and got up. "I'll see you later Jazz."  
She smiled as she watched him leave, happy that for even a little while, she and Danny had something they shared an interest in. .

.  
It was odd seeing him so still, because it was only then that Dick took note of how quiet he was. The Jason he'd seen the few times he'd visited the manor was always busy with something. Whether it was practicing flips, helping Alfred or getting into trouble. He was a little punk who always had something to prove and was always looking to prove it.  
That was one of the reasons Dick had had such a hard time getting close to the boy. It had grated on his nerves that Bruce had taken Robin and given it to someone so impulsive, so rude, so very different from Dick himself. Now all Dick wanted was to see the boy do something when there weren't any glowing monsters involved. And no, he wasn't calling them ghosts, he'd seen ghosts, they were horrifying and he'd still be having nightmares for a long time before he could joke about them, something that came with having a half demon sorceress for a teammate. Dick almost hoped this world's version would try something so Jason would get off that park bench and punch something.  
"I'd tell ya to take a picture." Jason said. "But try it an' I'll turn your face inside out."  
Well at least he still sounded like Jason. Dick swung out of the tree he'd been hiding in and leaned over the back of the concrete bench.  
"How's your arm?" He asked, smiling down at the glaring boy.  
"Got chewed on." Jason only looked up with one half lidded eye. "What do you want?"  
"You change the bandages yet?" Dick pressed. That was the kind of wound that got an Alfred imposed bed rest of at least a week. Spending all night on a park bench didn't count.  
"What do you want?" The boy asked again, this time with a noticeable edge to his voice.  
"Can I sit down?" Dick waved his fingers at the bench.  
Jason growled but moved his legs aside, giving Dick space to flip over the edge and sit, but as far from the boy as he could.  
"You know you don't want me to leave." Dick said.  
"I don't want you near the kid behind my back." Jason said, sitting up and wincing only a little when he straitened hid shoulder. "Now tell me what you want or I'll be the one leaving."  
"To know what happened to you." Dick sighed and looked up at the dusky sky. Even angry, this Jason was too passive. Dick wanted a surprise attack, a flurry of curses, anything but this.  
"I died." Jason said, wrapping his arms around his midsection. "If you were looking for me in that place then you must have known that." He stood, his cheeks suspiciously wet when he turned away. "Now please, just leave me alone."  
As he walked something phased through his clothes and fluttered to the ground. The white bandage Dick had wrapped around Jason's hurt shoulder was stained, not only with rust colored dried blood, but bright green as well.  
Dick caught it before it could blow away on the wind. Dead people didn't bleed.

He didn't want to be there anymore, didn't want to be anywhere near that man. Away where everything wasn't too loud and too close and he could breath. So he fought down the aching of need in his chest, the lump in his throat that made it hard to breath, why couldn't he breath, he needed to breath! He focused on what he wanted, a snack, a fight, a freaking haircut. Things he could get if he went looking.  
"I don't need it." He muttered to himself, he didn't need anything, he'd exist no matter what, so he didn't need anything. Mostly he didn't need the headaches, flashes of fire and steel and red lips and laughter and… He had to run to the nearest trashcan to empty his stomach. Not like he needed the food anyway, but he wondered if pain meds would get rid of the headache. Everything was suddenly too loud, and too close, how much longer until it was night already?  
He wished a ghost would attack, if only to take his mind off it, he needed to take his mind off it.  
"Hey look, it's Little Red Riding Hood."  
He looked up – when did he even sit down? – and saw that blonde idiot jock from the high school. "Heard you've been making moves on my buddy's girl friend." The jock cracked his knuckles.  
Somehow, he'd wondered all the way to the mall without noticing it. He stood and wiped the left over bile from his lips, while he was there he might as well get something to get the taste out of his mouth.  
"Hey I was talking to you." Dash fisted the front of his hoody when the smaller boy walked past. "No wonder you're always wearing this thing." Dash laughed, his 'friends' following suit. "You're even freakier when I can see all of you."  
He took a deep breath. You don't get into fights with civilians, you never get into fights with civilians no matter how angry they make you. Being impulsive was what had gotten him into that situation in the first place, why the 'hahahahahaha' why that laughter was still ringing in his ears even now.  
He only needed one arm to break away and pull the hood back on before that hat appeared again. Walking away was harder, but it was always the better option. Someone had always said that and listening to someones deep voice drowned out the laughter. This was one of the reasons he couldn't hang around that school past lunch time. It had been better before that guy had shown up, before those questions kept creeping in on him and he was constantly looking for an outlet. It was too hard to stay calm on his own, and those freaking idiots preyed on anyone who was alone. If they didn't let up on him soon he knew he was going to snap, and when that happened he was going to make them eat their own…  
"Red!"  
He turned around slowly, taking the time to school his twisted features so it looked like he was just bored. "'Sup, Boss." He smiled. "Trouble?"  
The kid frowned, that look he always got just before he started asking questions. "Nah. What are you doing here so late?"  
"I could ask you the same thing, don't you have that big test coming up?" For some reason he had a really, really bad feeling about that test.  
The halfa laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "I was just at the internet café, doing, uh research." He nodded rapidly. "Yeah, lots of research about math, and history and… stuff."  
"Yeah, the math of HP and the history on how many times yours hit zero." The other boy laughed, his eyes shifting to where Danny's friends appeared outside the internet café, they waved and Red waved back sloppily. "Your friends are signaling you." Danny turned to look and the ghost slipped into the crowd, leaving the mall. There were other places he could get rid of the bad taste in his mouth. Some neapolitan iced cream would work better than a soda anyway.

All it took for Red to disappear again was the few seconds Danny had turned to call Sam and Tucker over. If he hadn't seen Richard do the same a few night ago, he would have assumed the ghost really had learned how to use his invisibility. "Was that Red?" Tucker asked, peering into the crowd. "What's he late for?"  
"Probably saw the clown." Sam said.  
"Where?" Tucker looked around excitedly. "I didn't know the mall even had one."  
Sam gave Tucker a pointed look and held up her pocket mirror.  
"Oh ha ha." Tucker laughed sarcastically and pushed the mirror away. Danny only half paid attention to them. When was the last time the ghost had hung out with all three of them? Whenever they were around he was either asleep or gone seconds later. 'I'll get him tomorrow at school.' Danny told himself, knowing already that he wouldn't be seeing the ghost that night.


	29. Chapter 29

He wasn't sure of he'd ever been an animal lover. Couldn't remember if he enjoyed going to zoos or nature reserves. If that was ever case then in certainly wasn't now. Not after months of being thrown around like a ragdoll by the various ghostly animals that caused trouble in amity park. If had the energy to hate them then that's what he would call the feeling building in his chest as he stared down the ghostly bull.

It bellowed, sounding like it's call had been out through several layers of filters and a lake. Even through he knew that bulls didn't immediately charge for the color red, they couldn't even see the color red, it still made him twitchy to be standing there with his usual hoody on. The four horned bull from hell snorted, and scuffed the ground with its front leg, tilting it's head.

"Aw crud." The boy groaned. There was nothing to say a ghost bull was going to behave anything like a real one. Those sounds it was making didn't have to mean it was about to charge. He couldn't move away from the door behind him. Anything that huge charging into an occupied classroom was sure to hurt someone.

A knife hidden in his sleeve slipped down into his hand. He'd just have to deal with it like he would a real bull, not that he would have chosen knives for that how that. It can't kill a ghost, he told himself, his eyes on the huge animal and for an instant wondered if going intangible would even help.

Then the boy ran screaming at the animal before it could start charging. The ghost bull nudged the ground again then charged, letting out a loud bellow. The boy side stepped the beast and slashed at its side. Contrary to what its size suggested, bull weren't all that slow, and this one was fast enough to spin around and knock the boy to the ground.

He skidded down the hall, then used a drinking fountain to pull himself to his feet. The bull faced him again, and again he stood his ground and stared it down. The animal threw back it's head and charged again. The boy was a ghost too, ghosts couldn't die, didn't mean it wasn't going to hurt like a…

Just before they clashed a green shield formed in front of the ghost boy, it shattered, but slowed down the charge. It didn't stop the boy from being flung down the hall and crashing into a row of lockers though.

"Got him!" Phantom tossed the Fenton thermos into the air and caught it again triumphantly. "Hey Red, no property damage this time.

"Great, Boss." The ghost groaned and looked up at the dented lockers. A lack of bull fighting experience suddenly seemed like glaring lack in his education.

"What's going on out here?" A teacher poked her head out of her classroom. Red fallen through the fall before she had a chance to see him.

Hitting the ground of the lower floor hurt much less than getting hit by the bull. Being able to use his intangibility at will would have saved him a lot of trouble if he could just remember it during fight. The bell rang for lunch and the ghost got himself up before anyone could see him.

"Hey Red." Danny stepped out of a supply closet. Too late. It should have taken longer for the halfa to dump Bessie in the Ghost Zone. "We need to talk."

"About how Bessie got through the lock on the portal?" The ghost stretched. "And why it would haunt a school. Guess they're serving it's cousins in the cafeteria today." He stood up. "Speaking of which."

"Yeah, we should go get lunch." Danny threw an arm around the ghosts shoulder and dragged him along. "I missed out on breakfast chasing the Box Ghost this morning and I'm starved."

"I didn't see him." Red said slipping out from Danny's hold as they walked to the big double doors.

"So anyway, I was thinking." The kid said, still holding one of the ghost's sleeves so he couldn't slip away. "None of us understand those chemical bonds in science class, so we were going to have a study group tonight."

"Isn't is kinda a case of blind leading blind if none of ya understand it?" The ghost asked.

"Looked like you got the hang of it pretty quickly." Danny said. "Falluca read out the pop quiz scores."

"I don't know if I'll be around tonight." The ghost said, there were a million other things he'd rather have been doing, up to and including being thrown around by that bull again. He opened his mouth to speak, an excuse already on the tip of his tongue

"We can invite Valery over too." Danny suggested and the ghost let off a string of mental curses. He hadn't even spoken with the Red huntress in days. If Danny found that out he'd have an excuse for even more questions. Kid was getting smart.

"Where?" The ghost asked, he could come up with an excuse before the end of the day. Right then he just wanted to find a quiet place for a nap. That headache was coming back.

"Great!" Danny grinned, cheeky little, he knew what he'd done. "We'll come up with a place over lunch. Maybe the sloppy joe you eat will be part of that bull, huh?"

"I'm really not hungry." He ghost said, looking around the packed cafeteria, there were a lot of people in there. A lot of very loud people packed too close together. He could feel the sensory overload creeping in again.

"This from the guy who said he was a vengeful ghost?" Danny laughed. "Come on, he woulda eaten you, it's only fair."

The ghost sighed. It was obvious the kid wasn't going to let him leave, and as crowded as the cafeteria was, it wasn't so full that he could get away unnoticed. Danny started pulling him to a table, he wanted to pull away again, that anything was touching him made him just that much more aware of all the people, and he was already overly aware.

They were almost at the table where Danny's friends were waiting. The ghost though that maybe once he got there he could pretend to sleep, channel out all the noise before it morphed into sounds that weren't there.

Something hit the back of his head and it was like all the noise had stopped. The football ricocheted and knocked into some girl walking by.

"Sorry about that." Dash Baxter said, the smirk on his face all the evidence anyone needed to know that the jock was far from sorry.

The ghost ignored him and bent down without a word to help the girl gather up her books. She thanked him, then scurried away. He took a deep breath and started walking for the doors, he'd walk away again, be the better man, prove that he was capable of it.

A ball hit him on the side of his head before he got very far, stopping him in his tracks. Danny said something to Dash about messing with the sick kid being low. The ghost felt his blood rushing to his face, burning his cheeks.

How freaking retarded could the jock be to have forgotten the beating he'd gotten the first time they'd met already? Footsteps got closer, Danny tried to get in Dash's way again but was pushed aside. Freaking idiot thought Jason was just some weakling to be made a victim of.

More deep breaths, he couldn't get into a fight, couldn't get kicked out of school, not again. Not if he didn't want another lecture from the boss, if he wanted to be benched again and spend all night in the cave. He shook his head, clearing away the strange thoughts.

Danny couldn't bench him, that wasn't something the kid would even think off. Then where had it come from?

"You gonna run away again Little Red Riding Hood?" The jock said, getting closer. "Think you're so smart." He threw the football at the ghost's back again. "There's nowhere for you to hide here."

He started to take another deep breath, better to stay calm, if he got kicked out of school and they checked his records… A hand grabbed his shoulder and started to turn him around. Everything went red, and the only sound was his own pounding heart, amplifying the headache.

His fist crashed into the taller boy's stomach, Dash doubled over and the ghost grabbed hold of his blonde hair and brought up a knee to smash into the jocks face, knocking him onto his back in the process.

The other jock, Kwan, grabbed the back of his hoody and lifted him off the ground, away from their leader. The boy broke free and rammed his elbow into the others solar-plexus, then swung his fist at the boys face, hearing a satisfying crack when it connected and he felt the red running onto his hand.

There were more, but he didn't care, why would they be any harder to beat into the ground that those before them. Idiots came at him running, their balance was horrible and it was easy to tip them over, use their own weight and force to send them flying into the surprisingly sturdy tables.

Stupid. All that muscle they had was worth less than their empty freaking brains when they couldn't use it properly. It didn't matter, he didn't care. He threw punches and kicks at those dumb enough to get back on their feet and try him again.

Multiple pairs of arms wrapped around him, pulling him away from his many opponents. Someone was talking, talking while that cluster of scum was picking itself up off the ground.

"Red!" The voice was high pitched, feminine. He looked away from the jocks and at the violet eyes leaning close to his face. On either side of him were Danny and Tucker. The ghost forced himself to calm down and shrugged them off, keeping his eyes on the jocks.

Sam frowned at him, her arms crossed while the other boys set him down on a bench. Danny looked a little worried, but neither he, nor Tucker looked like they were angry about the fight. The bespectacled boy actually looked like he was torn between laughing and staring at the temporary battleground in awe.

"Chicken soup for the soul, what happened here?" All eyes were suddenly on the overweight English teacher.

Minutes later, as the instigators of the fight, the ghost was seated besides Dash in the principal's office while the rest of the football team waited just outside for their turn.

There wasn't anything about the situation that worrying would help, so the ghost just didn't. He sat quietly, outwardly calm and paying close attention to Principal Ishiyama's lecture. Inwardly he kept his attention on Dash, relishing at the boy's twitchiness whenever he felt the cold red eyes on him.

A secretary popped into the office and whispered something to the principal.

"Mister Reed, it seems we're having some trouble contacting you guardians, please wait outside while we speak to Mister Baxter's father.

"Yes Ma'am." The ghost nodded and got up, very careful to keep his expression blank. It wasn't like he'd miss out on much by not going to the school anymore. They weren't teaching anything he didn't already know, and the kid didn't really need anyone watching out for him.

Ghosts didn't need high school diplomas.

"Mister Reed." The secretary called him over. "Would you please check that this information is correct."

Home address, Contact number, Email, Allergies, Health problems… All were filled out and all were fake.

He made a show of looking it over, changing his expression to one of confusion, then let an embarrassed smile creep onto his face.

"These are all for the old place." He smiled nervously. "I guess he just forgot to update them." Out the corner of his eye he saw Danny looking in through the square door window.

"I need you to fill in the correct information now, okay." She gave him a new form and a pen.

Just when he took the pen the office door opened and Dick plucked the writing utensil out of his hand.

The young man laughed. "He's so forgetful he'll probably get it all wrong again." He began filling out the form himself. "He can't even remember to take his lunch money most days." He didn't hesitate at any of the columns, ticking off all those that had been ticked off on the original form and handing it back with a flourish.

The secretary looked over the form and nodded. "You're sure this is correct?" She asked.

"If like you can give me a call on the new number." Dick grinned. "Maybe we can set a date and…"

The ghost's face crinkled in disgust and he dragged the man away from the blushing woman.

"Do you have to flirt with everyone?" He growled.

"Come on Little Wing." Dick wined, miming holding a phone to his ear and mouthing 'call me' to the secretary behind the boy's back.

"How are you even here." The ghost pulled the man around, away from the secretary.

"Your friends called me." Dick said. "You could have done a better job with those credentials you know. Todd Reed? That's adorable." His face went serious. "You know you need my help right now, or they'll all be dragged into it. I'll get you out of this mess, but you'll owe me."

The ghost frowned at the door, where Danny was peeking in. Lancer walked by and shooed the halfa away.

"What do you want from me?" The boy sighed. If he was found out they'd probably think he was a runaway, and they'd question everyone around him for answers that didn't exist. A superheroes secret identity couldn't afford having any spotlight put on them.

"Just some time to talk." Dick said. "Not with Red, or Todd Reed, but with you. A few hours won't throw off your super busy schedule, now will it?"

"Mister Reed?" The principal called and Dick kept his questioning eyes on the boy, as though he hadn't heard.

"Fine." The ghost walked into the office, Dick grinning as he followed behind.

He spun some story about having to change schools because of kids giving his little brother trouble about his condition. Martial arts classes to build up his confidence, and no Ma'am I couldn't believe it myself when he took to it so well, he'd never had much stamina you know. He's been sleeping in class? Well what did I just say. So glad he's actually making friends here, he's always been such a loner, it's hard for him you know. You're really too pretty to be a principal… that one had gotten him a discreet kick under the table.

In the end his punishment was a week suspension from school to 'think about his actions.' Dick had promised he'd keep a closer eye on the boy and they were finally out of there. The ghost caught Danny watching when they left the school and waved, then signaled with the hand that it was okay.

Sure the problem was taken care of, but he didn't feel okay, not in the slightest.

They went to a burger joint, not the Nasty Burger that Danny and his friends loved so much thankfully. Dick ordered them each a burger-fries-milkshake combo and they sat down at a booth near the door. Neither of them spoke while they waited for the food to come, and the boy was glad for the chance to prepare himself.

The place was pretty empty at time of the day, just a few old people who'd been out shopping and some kids playing truant. It was clean, and quiet, they were right up against the huge glass of the storefront, so he could watch the streets and the people who came in.

A waiter brought their food and Dick thanked him before taking a bite of the burger.

"You not hungry?" The man asked. "You didn't get lunch, right?"

"I don't need it." The boy said, but took a sip of the milkshake, banana flavored, to placate the man.

Dick shrugged and took a sip of his own. "Funny that you called yourself Todd." He said.

The boy just cocked an eyebrow and ate some fries, okay maybe he was a little hungry.

"Shows you do remember somewhere in there." The man elaborated. "Your full name is Jason Peter Todd."

The boy didn't want to say anything, but the name settled on his shoulders just right. It fit, and he could almost feel the weight anchoring him down. It was a good kind of weight, it meant that he was a person, he'd existed before he'd been nameless in the Ghost Zone and Red in Danny's world.

"You know." Dick stretched out, not fazed by the younger's silence at all. "Bruce took you out for burgers when you first met. Said you ate like five of them and threw it all up in the batmobile later."

Bruce? An older man's face flashed through the boys mind for a second. That was Someone, he knew it, but this time the knowledge wasn't comforting. That he had a past also meant that the past was real. The things in his nightmares really existed and they could still hurt him when he opened his eyes.

"I changed my mind." He stood up and tried to leave, but Dick grabbed his arm and held him back.

"I can change my mind about having to rewrite my whole identity here." Dick said, his face now deathly serious. "If you don't sit down I'll call the school and tell them everything."

Jason's chest felt heavy, like it was straining to keep his rapidly beating heart from breaking through his ribs. He looked pleadingly at the man, but was met only with stony indifference. Reluctantly he sat down again, buying his face in his arms and trying to control his breathing.

"If you don't keep your promises then no one will ever believe you." Dick was saying. "It's not like you have anywhere to go right now. Your friends don't get out for a few more hours, but we both know that you weren't going to…"

Now he knew why Dick had taken him to such an empty place, he'd known this would happen. That Jason wouldn't want to draw too much attention to himself in a public place, but lots of people would make it worse. Lifting his head to look at the man made it spin, and somewhere, there was something laughing, it was getting louder and louder and… He couldn't breathe again, and this time telling himself that he didn't need to wasn't helping.

Something cold was pressed to the back of his neck, shocking him into opening his eyes and banishing the laughter away.

"That bad, huh?" Dick said softly, and before he knew it Jason was being lifted off his feet and carried out while Dick whispered soothingly. "It's okay Little Wing, I'm sorry, I didn't think it would be this bad."

He didn't notice when he was set down on the brick barricade around the parking lot.

"It's fine. You're safe. Your okay. Hey look it's a cat."

Short sentences that didn't really mean anything important, but he focused on those words and on the icy compress at the back of his neck.

It took a few minutes for him to feel the wind blowing through his hair, prickling his skin. His hoody was laying next to him. Torn and bloodstained and worn thin from all of the fighting. It had been Sam's once, and it had been clean and new when he'd first put it on. No amount of soap would get it like that again, no matter how much he tried.

His head was pressed against Dick's chest, and the man was stroking his shaggy hair, still whispering nonsense …"not your fault. Sorry. It's going to be okay…"

However long it took, his breathing calmed down and the world came fully into focus. Everything was faded, the episode had just left Jason unbelievably tired.

"You do need a haircut." Dick said softly, not letting go of the boy.

"Okay." Jason said just as softly. He really did need one, he pulled away and put the hoody back on.

Dick helped him get to his feet and kept close enough that he could catch the boy if his legs gave out.

By the time they made it to an apartment block, Jason had recovered enough to be weary of an unfamiliar place. Pulling away would have taken so much energy though, and he'd have to figure out where to go next. It was easier to just let Dick lead him into the building.

"Tada!" Dick swung open the door waved out an arm, presenting his living space.

The apartment was tiny but it looked like it was in good condition.

"How'd ya get a place so fast?" Jason asked. Dick hadn't even been in Amity that long.

"Would you be able to say no to me?" Dick laughed. "How 'bout a grand tour!" He opened one door. "That's the bathroom." He waited for Jason to actually look inside, then shut it and opened another. "The master, and only bedroom." Jason took one look into the messy room and Dick shut the door. "I'm too busy to keep that clean."

He waved his had exaggeratedly at the counters across the room. "My cutting edge, fully equipped kitchen." He stomped his feet and opened his arms wide. "And were standing in the high definition entertainment area. High definition not included."

Jason clapped sarcastically, and Dick grinned. "Any questions?"

"Does it have room service?" Jason asked, and laughed at Dicks bemused expression.

"Sure." He deadpanned. "Thirty minutes or it's free." He lifted a phone off the wall. "Any requests?"

Jason shrugged and dropped down on the lumpy two seater in front of the tint Tv. "Just feed me."

Dick laughed at that, at least he wasn't sore about having to leave the other food in such a hurry. Wasting it kind of left a bad taste in Jason's mouth. Dick put Jason's school bag down next to the coffee table while he placed and order.

"Come on." Dick patted Jason's shoulder and smiled at the boy's confused expression. "We're cutting Rapunzel's hair remember."

Jason got up and followed Dick to the bathroom where his head was ducked under a stream of water from the basin, then he was seated on a stool in the kitchen. Dick propped a mirror on the counter so the boy could see his reflection.

It wasn't that long, the tips of his bangs just reaching his chin. Seeing what he looked like was still weird, like he was supposed to be seeing something else.

"Your hair's longer than mine." Jason said.

"Yeah, but I make it look good. You just look like a girl." Jason kicked out at Dick who just danced away laughingly. "Don't feel bad." Dick said. "If everyone was like me it wouldn't be special anymore."

"Just cut it." Jason growled throwing a towel around his shoulders.

"Yes Master Jason." Dick said in a British accent, flourishing his comb and scissors.

That made Jason smile, tickling at something just past the hazy nightmare of his lost memory. Snowy hair started dropping to the ground while Dick chattered on about his job at an ice-cream parlor. Jason's attention was only partly on the man's voice.

He was focused on the atmosphere of the place. It smelt like Kevlar, and grease, and a whole lot of other things he couldn't name. Somehow he knew that if he looked around he'd find the numerous weapons hidden in just about every place he could think of. There were wired by every window and door, only visible if you were looking for them, a security system better than you'd find in most prisons. Nothing would be coming or going without Dick knowing it.

"You're being pretty quiet." Dick said, combing the loose pieces of hair from Jason's shoulders. "I thought I'd get at least a few quips by now. "Something on your mind."

"It's familiar." Jason said without thinking. Dick was still until the boy spoke again. "Something's missing."

"There's a no pet policy." Dick said and went back to snipping. "So I couldn't get any bats in."

"You say that like it's a bad thing, that guanos such a pain to clean." Jason huffed.

"Oh I hated that." Dick groaned. "I can't believe I almost forgot about it."

"He made you do that too?" Jason laughed at the idea of the golden boy shoveling bat droppings.

"Not like Alfred was going to do it." Dick brushed aside the last few loose hairs and pulled the towel away. "All done."

His reflection looked a little more like him, the curls just sticking up at the edges and his shortened bangs parted in the center. Jason raked his hand through it and slid off the stool.

"It's kinda weird that you're so good at cutting hair." Red quipped and went for a dustpan he spotted near the kitchen sink to sweep up his hair.

"Don't hate." Dick said. "You can be stylish and a stylist." He scratched his chin. "We'll I can."

"Shut up." Jason threw the collected hair away. "Not everybody would exactly call that style."

"Pizza's here." Dick said, moments before there was a knock at the door. He grinned and went to answer it.

Jason scoffed. He was impressed, but that didn't mean he was going to admit it.

Minutes later they were sitting on Dicks sofa eating the warm pizza, and sipping on mugs of marshmallow topped hot chocolate. The atmosphere was even more familiar than it had been before, and Jason still wasn't feeling uncomfortable. It almost felt like home, almost, and it wasn't just bats that were missing.

Dick knew him, knew what milkshake he liked, what pizza he'd have chosen, and even how to make the hot chocolate that Jason sometimes woke up remembering the taste of. Jason wanted to ask what they were, where he'd come from, what had happened to him. Dick knew the answers to all the questions that had spun around in the boy's mind since he'd found out he was a ghost.

A few times, Jason almost asked them, but changed his mind before he could go through with it. He wanted to enjoy the quiet, the piece, the feeling that there was somewhere he belonged. The questions weren't impossible anymore, and suddenly that made all the difference.

Soon the food was finished and the two of them were laughing mindlessly at a cheesy horror movie that was too over the top to be anything but hilarious. They talked over the screaming teenagers, inserting their own lines into the movie.

They were just in the process of turning a chase scene into a race for the last taco when the movie was cut off by a breaking news bulletin. There was a ghost fight at the mall and anyone who had cars parked there was advised to move them before they got covered in bird excrement.

"These people have really weird priorities." Dick said, his expression dumbfounded.

"Well no one's ever died in a ghost attack." Jason jumped up and ran for the door. The kid was already there, and even if there hadn't been any casualties yet, anything could happen.

"Wait." Dick called, chasing after him.

"No time." Jason called back.

"I'll drive you." Dick jingled some keys as he rode ran past.

They got to an underground parking area where and Dick gave Jason a helmet, then got onto a black motorcycle with the boy behind him and they sped out into the city streets. If the apartment had felt familiar then this was even more so, racing at high speeds into danger. He laughed past the pain in his chest and almost wished they wouldn't get there.

He regretted that when there was a huge traffic jam on the road to the mall. Dick spun around and drove tried to get there via another route, but it was the same story.

"Looks like everyone took the newscasters advice." Dick quipped. "All the roads are going to be blocked."

Jason groaned and looked down at the line of cars, at that rate he'd be there faster on foot. If people did this every time there was a panic they were doomed.

"Hold on." Dick said and turned sharply down a narrow alleyway. With no more obstructions they tore through the emptier road on the other side. Though still in the same general direction, Jason knew this road didn't lead to the mall. He couldn't voice his opinion over the roar of the engine, so he just hung on and hoped Dick knew what he was doing.

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Danny really hated those birds, and not just because they were annoying, or because they worked for Vlad. These were the same ghosts that had tried to kill his father not too long ago. Whether they'd been acting on orders or not he still wasn't comfortable having any of them around near his town.

They'd swooped in and attacked while he was still in human form for Pete's sake. Most ghosts at least had the courtesy of letting him find some place to transform first. These guys just went straight for his friends and flew off with them.

It happened every now and then, it came with so many ghost's knowing his secret identity, but it was what these vultures did every single time. They were like the mess-with-Danny's-family-and-friends ghosts. He ducked onto an alleyway and went ghost, shooting after the fleeing birds.

They were fast, and he'd followed them all the way to the mall before he caught up to them.

"No, no, no. Little halfa boy." One said, dangling Tucker around like a pendulum.

"Oh, I am so having chicken tonight." Tucker yelled at it. The boy looked like he was about to throw up. Good thing everyone was leaving the parking lot then

"Let them go." Danny said, his ghostly aura glowing brighter.

"No on you life, child... half-life." The bird shook itself, jostling poor Tucker even more. "Whatever, we have to bring your friend to Plasmius, don't chase us, we don't drop, huh?"

"Only we forgot which one we were supposed to bring." Another vulture said.

"Shut up you, he didn't need to know that." The one holding Sam reprimanded.

Danny took a look at what the ghost's were flying over, Sam and Tucker would probably be mad at him, but it was better than being carted off to Vlad. While they were distracted by their arguing, Danny fired off his ecto blasts at the ghost's feet. They cried out on shock and dropped the kids.

Sam and Tucker were screaming while they fell. Expressions of fear quickly morphed into disgust when they fell into a huge dumpster filled with garbage.

"You guy's okay?" Danny flew over to his friends.

"What do you think?" Sam asked. A chute above them dropped more garbage down on them, Danny could go intangible, but his friends not so much.

One Vulture slapped the other behind its head. "Now look what you've done. Plasmius will hold this over us forever.

"If you have forever." Danny charged at the two large birds. One of them he tacked into a nearby building and the other got a powerful ecto beam to the face. He had to wonder sometimes why it was always those three ghosts Vlad sent to do those kinds of things, always. Wait, there were supposed to be three.

Danny's glance went first to his friends to make sure they were still safe, and there they were grumpy, but otherwise fine. Next he scanned the skies above him, it was doubtful the bird would have flown away from the fight all together.

The last ghost swooped back into view from behind the mall.

"Hey look what I found." It said. "It's the one we miss…" It was holding a struggling Red in its talons, the boy swore, but couldn't free his arms to do any kind of damage. The vulture took one look at its partners and flew off, still clutching the ghost boy. So it would leave them behind after all.

Danny flew after the ghost, popping up in front of it and blocking it from going any further. It tried to get away, but every time it changed directions Danny was there waiting for it. Still it ducked and weaved an he couldn't tackle it outright without risking harm to Red, and ecto blasts would hurt him a lot more than Sam and Tucker.

A small object flew through the air, slicing the ghost's wing, then circling around and going back where it had come from. Danny tried to find the source, but then the vulture was falling down, taking Red with it. Why it was the ghost even needed it's wings to fly Danny didn't know, but he didn't really have time to think about it when he had to stop his friends from becoming a splat on the road.

Without a word, Red pulled out one of his bird shaped blades and threw it at the bird, pinning it to the side of a building so it wouldn't fall onto the pedestrians below. Danny set his friend down and went to made short work of sucking all of the ghosts into the thermos.

He got back to the mall where Red was helping Sam out of the dumpster, he got some sludge on his hands, but ignored it and turned to help Tucker as well.

"So did you get?" The geek was asking excitedly. "Dash's Dad was chewing him out all the way into there car."

"I think it was more that Dash lost to such a puny kid than that he fought at all." Sam said. "She sniffed at her hands and her face scrunched up in disgust. "I so need a shower after this."

"Gross, for once I agree with that completely." Tucker squinted at Red "Dude, what happened to your hair?"

"Oh." The ghost ran a hand over his shorter white hair. He looked even more like the Robin in the picture now that it wasn't a shaggy mess anymore. "Wing cut it when he picked me up." He folded his arms and spun around to frown at Danny. "How'd ya even gat his number?"

"He gave it to me." Danny said. "If he hadn't do you know how much trouble you would have been in? He said he was your brother."

Red sighed. "Yeah, it's great and all that you tried to help, but you're not gonna last long in this game if ya trust everyone that spins a convincing story." Red looked more serious and focused than Danny had seen him in a while. "One misstep an ya can get hammered down, an there's no guarantee of gettin up again. Understand?"

"So he's not your brother?" Danny asked, now a little worried that he'd handed his friend over to someone dangerous. "Did he hurt you?"

"As if." Red scoffed. "But that's not the point. Just because it worked out this time, doesn't mean it always will. What if you're supposed long-lost cousin shows up and ya wind up in a trap?"

"Wait." Tucker scratched the back of his head. "So it the guy your brother or not?"

"Dunno." Red shrugged." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and his eyes widened, then went back to his usual bemused stare. He pulled a wrapped candy cane out of his pocket, he waved the sweet at Danny. "He's harmless though. Don't ya have ta change back before your fans show up?"

"Danny told you about the study group, right?" Sam asked. "And you're coming?"

Red tensed up again, and Danny was worried he'd come up with a reason to say no. He'd forgotten to ask Valery over, but he was hoping Red wouldn't know that, he knew the weirdest things sometimes.

"Sure." Red said. "I've just gotta pick up my stuff from Wings place."

"Great." Danny said. "It's at Tucker's, you know how to get there?"

The ghost nodded and waved once before walking away. "Seeya there."

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Dick went back to apartment as soon as Jason was back on the ground, he didn't want to get too involved with this world's heroes, when there were enough teams he had to take care of back home. He wondered how they were all doing. The only thing anyone knew was that he'd be away for a while on an extended mission. After he'd left so suddenly, they had to have figured out it was important.

The only contact he had with that side after coming through the Fenton portal was the little disk he'd sent flying home that said he'd found Jason. He only had two left, 'coming home' and 'need help.' It was a testament to Bruce's ready-for-anything approach to missions that he even had those. For all he knew everyone was waiting around for him to bring the kid back since he'd sent that one.

Alfred had probably already prepared his bedroom. What would they think if it took months more for Dick to gain enough of Jason's trust that the kid would go home. What if he decided he never wanted to go home at all? How many friends did he even have there? The only way to make him go back was for him to remember Bruce, and the episode earlier that day was proof that any regular means weren't going to work.

He hadn't counted on Jason being so damaged when he'd set out, didn't have the recourses to deal with it. Maybe sending Babs in would have worked better, she knew about things like that, could help better than he could.

Dick smiled, it had been easy to forget that there was anything wrong with the boy when he'd been relaxed enough to laugh along at cheesy effects with Dick. Was he that good at hiding it from everyone else, did he know himself what was wrong with him?

There was a knock at the door. A little screen set up in the kitchen showed that it was Jason. Dick schooled his expression and went to answer it.

"I just came to pick up my school…" The boy frowned up at him. "What's wrong with you, did you hear a puppy cry or something?"

"Me? Look at me, I'm perfect." Dick said, forcing a grin in place. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"Sure." Jason slung the bag over his shoulder. "That's how he always acted when there was something hugely wrong. You're not being controlled by a cult, right?"

"Who was controlled by a cult?" Dick had heard that story before, hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, but he had heard it.

"The Boss." Jason's smile slipped away and his eyes went vacant, somewhere Dick couldn't see.

"How long have you been having anxiety attacks, Little Wing?" Dick asked. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder to help ground him, keep him from loosing himself in his own thoughts.

"I don't…" He tightened the white knuckled grip he had on his backpack.

"Do you feel sick sometimes, feverish?" Dick continued. "Like you can't connect with other people, you just get bored when they talk to you, huh? Nightmares?"

Jason didn't say anything, but he didn't run away, or deny anything. The Jason Dick remembered wouldn't have been so quiet, would have started shouting that Dick was the crazy one for thinking that. The Red Huntress had said, the first night Dick had tried approaching Jason, that he'd smelled like smoke.

"Do you get depressed?"

That one got a reaction from the boy, he pulled away and frowned at Dick.

"I'm not depressed." Jason said, his eyes shifted around the tiny apartment. "I'm just…" He pulled his hoody a little lower. "I'm just..." He looked up an met Dicks gaze. "It'll go away, right?"

Dick was surprised at the question, the earnestness in Jason's voice. He didn't know how to answer, didn't know what would preserve the little trust the boy was putting in him.

"I don't know." Dick said honestly. "You were okay today, for a while, weren't you?"

"Yeah sure." Jason said. "I can't beat up the football team and get suspended everytime I'm mad though, can I?"

"Come find me when it get's bad." Dick said. "You know where I am whenever."

"After ya blabbed on about your jobs for five hours I can't forget." Jason rolled his eyes. "I gotta go now, told some people I'd meet up with them."

"Aw come on, don't go now." Dick said to the retreating boy. "We still haven't finished the movie."

"I'll see it next time." Jason called back.

"At least do something Jasoney so I know I didn't break you." Dick yelled from his doorway.

The boy turned and walked backwards both hands up in a rude gesture as he walked, a huge grin on his face.

"Yeah, don't get hit by a bus, brat." Dick said and shut his door, grinning himself when he heard the boy's laughter.

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Vlad masters sifted through pages of data he'd collected through his pawn on Daniels new ghost friend. Updates on the ghost were few and far between, and every time he got new information it through any previous hypotheses out the door. Of coarse information collected exclusively from a hidden video feed could only go so far.

Mental evaluations, what passed for tissue samples in ghosts, these were things he needed to determine the ghost's nature. After he'd found out about the boy's memory problems, he'd though a simple message through the girl would be enough to draw him in. Not so, something was constantly preventing the girl from even conveying the message.

If he wanted samples he'd have to get them himself, but how? As far as Vlad knew he was only visible when he was with Daniel, and the younger halfa thwarted any attempts of Vlad's to bring him in. He watched over some footage from a few nights before, the last he'd seen of the ghost.

It appeared he was still incapable of flight, not unheard of certainly, especially in new ghosts, but he had certain other skills that made up for it. Vlad also found out that he wasn't the only one with an interest in the ghost, there was someone else tracking him.

He'd have to keep a closer watch or risk losing the prize.

He called up the girl, told her to seek out the ghost under the same ruse he'd used before. It was, after all, only natural for a man to be concerned when he found out his son was being stalked.

Vlad flipped a switch, bringing into view the people sized tubes filled with what cold someday be his perfect sons. He just needed to stabilize them, then he'd have no need for either Daniel Fenton, or his peculiar friend.


	30. Chapter 30

There are rules in life that every person must follow, stop at the red light, go at green, don't steal, don't break things that aren't yours. There are also people who will look for any opportunity to break those rules. People who took joy in finding and exploiting any loopholes in those rules to get away with the rules everyone else followed.

Walker hated those kinds of people more than anything. Not every ghost knew those rules, but that wasn't a excuse to break them. Every ghost that came into his section of the Ghost Zone had to follow those rules. If leaving that section was all it took to get out of there punishment, then no one would ever obey. That was why leaving for the human world was against the rules.

Walker took pride in his well run prison, and Phantom had made a mockery of it. According to a tip walker had gotten, the halfa had even corrupted a newly formed ghost into disobeying right along side him. His prison couldn't hold Phantom, but it would hold the ghost child just fine.

After all, not knowing the law was no excuse for breaking it.

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They were eating lunch in the school cafeteria exactly two weeks after the battle of Red vs. the football team. The quarter back of said team sent nervous glances at the ghosts, and Red appeared to be interested in only his food, but Danny, Sam and Tucker could see the satisfied smirk that was fixed on his face.

They'd all partnered up for an English assignment on why rules were necessary to make the world work. They had to write on why laws seemed pointless were in effect and what laws they would implement if they had the power.

Tucker and Danny had partnered up and Sam had gotten to Red before Valery, who'd tried to approach the ghost from behind. The techno geek was of the opinion that there were too many laws already while the goth, despite her professed dislike of the system, thought there were some things that there should have been laws again.

"But seriously, what's with the no hats in class rule?" Tucker was saying, patting his own red beret fondly, I mean, just why." It was kinda weird seeing as how the Casper High faculty had given up on trying to get him to stop wearing said hat.

"Or the no food in class rule." Red said, taking a huge bite of his meatloaf.

"Oh yeah!" Tucker and Red high fived across the table.

"Please, any rule that keeps people from eating anymore of that sludge should be eternal." Sam said.

Danny's ghost sense went off and he sighed. "I wish there was an eternal rule against these ghost attacks at school."

"There is." The gruff voice was all the warning they had before one of Walker's prison guards swooped though by, plucking Red from his seat and not even breaking stride before carrying the boy off.

They were out of earshot before Danny had the chance to hear the string off curses his friend let out. Everyone in the cafeteria ran outside to get a good look at the spectacle. Danny ducked under a table and went ghost, but Red was already falling by the time the hero got outside. Something metallic glinted off in the sunlight and slipped back into the boy's sleeve.

Danny caught his friend just in time to hear the tail end of his tirade against the feeing ghost.

"…again and I'll go for your throat, you piece of…" He looked up at Danny, and expression of wide-eyed innocence on his face. "Hey Boss."

"You can at least act scared so people don't know how weird you are." Danny said before flying down to set the ghost on the ground.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, Red dropped to his knees, his breathing getting heavy, one hand clutching his chest. Danny was the only one who saw the small smile before a nurse rushed over to check on him.

"I said scared, not terrified." Danny groaned, going invisible and hiding behind his friends when he returned to his human form. They three off them watched bemusedly while the ghost boy was carted off to the nurses office.

"He's so just doing this to get out of Tetslaf's quiz." Danny said.

Tucker doubled over and coughed exaggeratedly, leaning on Sam. "You know, I'm not feeling so well, don't think I can take the test either." She shrugged him off and he fell to the ground, clutching his stomach and letting out some choking sounds. "Tell my mom I love her."

"Shouldn't we be acting like this is a big deal?" Sam asked.

"I guess." Danny said and they began walking to the nurses office. "Maybe they'll give us the day off if we act traumatized enough."

"Aw man." Tucker moaned, stopping a few doors before the nurses office. "The one place I can't follow."

"See you on the other side Tuck." Danny laughed. He and Sam tried to go inside, but the nurse blocked there path.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked.

"You see, he has this condition, and his brother…" Danny began.

"We have all of that information and his brother's on his way." She smiled gently. "You kids don't have to worry." The school bell rang and the teacher eased them away from the door just when they caught sight of Red on a cot with an oxygen mask pressed to his face, and someone sitting next to him. "I'm sorry, but he can only have one visitor at a time, you have to get to class."

"But who's in there with him?" Danny asked.

"A Miss Valery Gray." The nurse said, looking down at her clipboard. "I can't leave him alone, so move along." She shut the door on them.

"Why is Valery there?" Sam asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Because she's obsessed with ghosts." Danny said. "Now we have to take that stupid test, did you study at all?"

"No." Sam sighed and they both walked back to class, heads hung low.

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"Well you've made a miraculous recovery." Tucker glared at Red as he slipped into a booth next to the ghost at the Nasty Burger.

"I have good medicine." Red said, finishing off a milkshake. "How was the test?" He grinned.

"Don't ask." Danny and Sam groaned in unison, taking their own seats.

"Have you been here all day?" Sam asked, eyeing the pile of candy wrappers piled up next to the ghost.

Red shrugged. "They feed me." He glared at an approaching waiter. "But if one more of them calls me Wing's baby brother I'm wringing someone's neck."

Before Danny could ask if he meant Richard or the waiter, she was already there.

"Another sundae for Richie's adorable baby brother."She set down a mountain of caramel and sprinkle capped ice cream and ruffled the ghost's hair. "Do you need anything sweetie?"

"Nuh-uh." Red grunted, his mouth already filled with ice-cream.

"And can I get you kids anything?" She asked, turning her attention to table's other occupants.

They ordered and Danny laughed at the ghost. "You look pretty happy with it."

The effect of Red's glare was ruined by his cheeks bulging with ice cream. "They're using me." Red said, he swallowed before continuing. "It's because that idiot can't control his flirting."

It was Richard who brought them their orders, a huge smile as usual on his face. "I heard you all had a test today, how'd that go?"

All three of them groaned and Red chuckled around the spoon in his mouth.

"That bad, huh?" he shook his head sadly, then grinned again and pulled Red into a one armed hug. "You should have asked my Little Wing for help, he's a little genius."

"Get off me!" Red pushed him away. "Don't you have work to do?"

"My boss never minds when I take some time for you." He pointed at the store manager, who was minding the register and waved, the manager waved back. "He even covers for me."

"Bet he won't cover your hospitals if ya don't go away." Red growled and swatted at his brother with his spoon.

"Hey." Richard ruffled Red's hair roughly, forcing the boy into a crouching position. "Don't bite the hand that get's you free food."

"Wing!" Red growled, unable to push the hand away.

"You still coming over to work on that new bike?" The man laughed and jumped out of the boy's reach.

Red ignored him and went back to his desert. That just prompted another laugh as the man left.

"You should be nicer to your brother, man." Tucker tusked, wagging a finger.

"Yeah, he went through so much to find you." Sam shook her head.

"He's evil." Red pointed his spoon at them. "An evil, over-protective stalker." He stuffed more ice cream into his mouth. "I'm never alone anymore, ever."

"Sounds like Jazz 2.0." Danny laughed.

Red sulked, it seemed like as soon as he finished his ice cream, someone brought him a soda, and the boy accepted the cheek pinching that came with it. Never being alone seemed to have been a good thing for the ghost.

"Doesn't matter, I said I'd meet up with Val when her shifts over." Red said.

"What does that girl want anyway?" Tucker asked, finishing off his fries.

"To hang out." Red shrugged.

"Just be careful around her, it's not exactly a secret that she hates ghosts." Danny warned. "And call right away if she…"

"Jeez, Boss." Red rolled his eyes. "I know what I'm doing, chill."

"Why is he the always the boss?" Tucker asked, crossing his arms. "I wanna be the Boss for once."

"You can be the boss for a whole day when you catch a ghost." Red replied sarcastically.

"I could do that." The geek said. "I could totally do that."

"Sure." Sam said. "Maybe the Box Ghost."

"Gotcha." Tucker grabbed hold of Red's shoulders.

"That doesn't count." Sam half rose from her seat.

"Yeah it does." Tucker said. "You sayin Red isn't good enough?"

"I'm offended." Red said. "Really." He shook his head, then turned to Tucker. "What'll it be, Boss?"

"Your soda." Tucker said. "Those fries are way salty."

Red slid his untouched soda over to Tucker. "I don't think I can fit anything else in my stomach anyway."

Tucker laughed like he'd accomplished some great victory, and was still running a list of commands when they were walking out. "…and my book report, try to make it look like I wrote it, can you do that?"

Red nodded along, though they all knew he wouldn't be doing any of those things. He waved to Valery still in her mascot costume, at the door. As soon as the ghost stepped outside, he was snatched up and carried off at a run.

"Put me down, I said I wasn't going!" Red yelled, struggling in his captor's hold.

"You didn't say anything." Richard laughed and kept running, the ghost tucked under his arm. "You know you'll love it!"

His friends waved Red off. "Don't forget the book report!" Tucker called after them.

"He's not doing the book report." Sam said bemusedly.

"I know." Tucker shrugged. "To him, the Boss it the guy you never listen to, like Danny."

"Hey!"

.

.

.

Tucker didn't really mind having Red around anymore. Once he's started spending time with Richard he wasn't nearly as intense as before, didn't disappear at odd times, and shared Tuckers love of meat and bad jokes. It was easier to like someone when they didn't just show up in the middle of a fight to show you up, and disappear again, making your best friend spend all day worrying. Cool tech to mess with was a plus too. He'd already made some communicators out of things Richard had given them.

He was actually a little disappointed that the ghost had been carried off.

He and Danny were heading over to the Fenton house to finish up their report on rules when Danny's ghost sense went off again. This time he was ready for it when a ghostly prison guard rushed up to them, and it got blasted by a beam of ecto-energy before it had a chance to get close.

"You won't get out of it this time Phantom!" Another swooped in and this time dragged Tucker with it when it retreated.

"Come on, not cool!" Tucker yelled, to afraid to struggle when he was so high up in the air. "If you drop me in the trash I'm gonna do something."

The retreating ghost was blasted from behind by the furious halfa chasing after it.

"What's with you guys always chasing after my friends!?" Danny yelled at it, coming to a quick stop when it turned around, holding Tucker in front of it like a shield.

"Walker wants the one you took." The ghost said. "He doesn't belong in the human world."

"Does he also want to get stabbed?" Tucker asked.

"Not a chance." Danny growled. "Now let him go."

"No!" Tucker yelled before the ghost had a chance to answer. "You never tell the bad guy to drop a guy they're holding a million miles in the air. They take it literally, you want me to fall to my death?"

"Tucker I can fly." Danny rolled his eyes. "I can catch you."

"Oh yeah… Well in that case." Tucker tried to reach for his shoes.

"Silence!" The ghost ordered. "You will listen to the Wardens command or he'll take this boy as Ahhh!" He practically threw Tucker away from him and cradled the hand to his chest.

"Danny!" Tucker called. The ground rushed up to meet him and he thought that maybe that hadn't been such a good idea.

There was a bright flash behind him, then his friend plucked him out of the air and set him securely on his feet.

"What did you do?" Danny asked. "He was so freaked out he just ran off without even putting up a fight."

"No ghosts are gonna be flying off with Tucker Foley again." Tucker waved his little knife in an arc, letting Danny get a good look at the wavy blade and web-like pattern of glowing blue.

"That's one of Reds knives." Danny said. "Where did you get it?"

"He didn't give you one?" Tucker smirked. The knife had been purposely dulled to make it less dangerous, but Danny didn't have to know that. "Maybe you can borrow Sam's some time and he'll show you some moves."

"Sam too?!" Danny groaned. "Let me see it." He reached for the knife, but Tucker pulled it out of reach.

"No, you never give a weapon to someone who can't use it Danny. That would be irresponsible of me." Tucker grinned.

"You're the most irresponsible guy I know, now hand it over!" Danny made another grab for it.

"Nope."

"Tucker!"

.

.

.

At Dick's apartment, Jason had to flip up his welding mask and set aside the tool's when he broke into a sneezing fit.

"You coming down with something there Jaybird?" Dick asked, brining over a mug of hot coco.

"Don't ever call me that." Jason said. Little Wing was bad enough, he didn't want any more stupid nicknames added to Dick's list.

Dick laughed and looked over the motherboard Jason was putting together for the bikes onboard computer. He was going to say something when the communicator in Jason's pocket beeped and the boy held up a hand, silencing his brother.

"Red, why does Tucker have a knife?" Danny was practically whining.

"It's so blunt it might as well be a butter knife." Red said. "Burns like heck when it touches a ghost's skin though. I told him it was only for emergencies."

"Oh, yeah, one of Walkers ghosts showed up again…"

"D'ya need help, where are you?" Jason said, getting to his feet.

"No, it's over already." Danny said. "But Red, the knife."

"That knife'll burn you in your ghost form too." Jason sighed and flopped back down on the couch. "Don't ya have a basement full of weapons?"

"Yeah," Danny said. "But they're all Fentonworks."

"Fine, I'll give you a freaking knife." It was hard to believe someone so good at protecting an entire town could be so childish, it really wasn't that great of a knife, it just looked cool. If Dick had heard that train of thought he would have laughed at the irony of it when Jason was sitting arranging his the marsh mallows on his coco into a smiley face. "Was that all?"

"Okay, fine, yes I'll call if she shoots me… Goodbye Danny." It was times like that Jason remembered why he'd left the Ghost Zone in the first place. The kid was still such a, well a kid. His ghost powers were ten times as good as any weapon. The ghost looked at his hand and watched it fade in and out, that was new, and he hadn't even gotten hang of the intangibility yet.

If he's stayed in the Ghost Zone where he was supposed to be, like that Ghost earlier had said, would he really have been flying already?

"You need exercise." Dick pulled the limp teen off the sofa, derailing his train of thought completely.

"I'll get exercise later." Jason tried to pull away. "Let me go."

"I'll show you some of my tricks, you always loved that, maybe I can teach you something." Dick said, ignoring Jason's protests.

"Why would I care about some pansy circus tricks?" Jason was still trying to free himself when they stepped out onto the building rooftop.

"Bruce can't do most of them." Dick said. "You know you wanna show him up."

Jason ran to the edge and looked over at the view of the city, then up at the half finished scaffolding that might have been the unfinished plans for an expansion. "Are we even supposed to be up here?"

"People only ever come up here to make out." Dick said, lifting himself onto the scaffolding and swinging to the top. "I'll race you."

"You cheat!" Jason climbed up after him, the feeling of familiarity creeping up on him again. "Hey, can you show me the quadruple somersault?" He asked.

Dick laughed. "There's not enough room for that up here. When we have a better training ground I'll do you one better and teach it to you."

"You're not kidding?" The ghost said skeptically, he had only a vague idea of what that meant, but he knew it was huge.

"Cross my heart Jaybird." Dick said.

"Don't call me that!" Jason shook his fist at the man.

"Okay, okay." Dick did a back flip and landed on the railing in a one armed handstand. "Can you still do this?"

"I didn't know I ever could." Jason said, eyeing the rusty structure doubtfully.

"Give it a try." Dick shifted his weight to another hand, when Jason didn't move the acrobat made a pouty face. "Come on Jay, I'll love you forever. You don't have to if you're too scared."

Jason growled and backed up a bit. If Dick could do it, then so could he, no question. He launched himself into the air and repeated Dick's movements. As soon as he was in the air, his body took over and his arms were supporting his waiting on the railing.

He wanted to laugh and cry out his excitement, but instead kept his face as neutral as he could. "This isn't so hard." Slowly he shifted his balance to one arm and raised the other, he held the position for a few seconds, then his wrist gave out and he tipped over the scaffolding. Before he could panic, instinct took hold again and he twisted in the air, landing on his feet nearer to the ground.

"You okay?" Dick was next to him a moment later, sounding genuinely worried.

"I meant to do that." Jason said, showing his shaking hands into his hoody pockets. "I have to leave soon."

"No, you don't." Dick playfully shoved Jason back to the scaffolding. "Let's give it another try."

"I don't need to try again." Jason tried to move toward the door, but was pushed back again.

"It's a great party trick; the ladies will be all over you." Dick stood in front of the door, arms spread out to block it.

"I have better things to worry about than impressing girls." Jason tried to push past, but Dick was immovable. The boy backed up a bit then charged forward to tackle Dick out of the way. He was caught mid-leap and thrown back. The acrobat was still at the door, a cocky grin on his face.

"Dick, I'm going to kill you." Jason yelled and charged forward again with the same result.

Over the next half an hour, all of his attempts to get past the man were fruitless and Jason ended up unmoving and winded on his back.

"Give up already, Little Wing?" Dick laughed, he was still at the door, but now was breathing heavily as well.

"I hate you." Jason groaned and scraped himself into a sitting position.

Dick walked over and pulled him to his feet. "You should clean up before your big date."

"You have no idea how far it is from a date." Jason said, and followed Dick back to the apartment. "You're such a moron." Dick opened the door. "And a cheat." Jason collapsed onto the sofa. "You're a cheating moron."

"Or am I a moronic cheat?" Dick gave him a glass of water. "You needed it, look how out of shape you are, tired after a little game like that." He shook his head. "Don't be such a sore loser you little brat."

A sense of dejavu hit Jason, hard. They'd had a similar conversation before, in the cave. Dick had been there, and they'd been sparring, the first time Dick paid attention to him as something other than the kid Bruce had… He kept using tricks that Jason had never seen before, he the boy couldn't get a hit it. Jason had gotten angry, calling him a cheat. 'You're just a sore loser, brat.'

Jason clutched the cool glass, the new memories flooding his mind. Dick could always do everything better, always and he was… But Dick had said he'd show Jason how to do the somersault, and he wasn't across the country anymore. It was fine, Jason could practice, could get better…

"… better follow in his footsteps…" The glass in his hand shattered, Jason didn't feel it. "That looked like it hurt." He could hear the voice as clearly as if it were right in front of him, he was back there, in that cold warehouse and everything hurt. He couldn't breathe. Where was Bruce? He wasn't coming, because Jason had been stupid and gone ahead without him.

Jason wanted to scream, and maybe he did. The Joker was gone, but he'd left a bomb, and Jason had to get to the door. It was so far away; he tried to stand, but collapsed on his face, on his broken ribs and his punctured lung. He cried that he was sorry, that he'd tried to get out before it had gone off and he just hand been…

Freezing cold washed over him; he was being rocked back and forth, shivering not just from the cold. There was a voice there with him.

"…not alone. Safe here with me, he can't get you here, he's locked away where he can't get you. I'm here and he won't get you ever again…" The words carried on, repeating that he was safe, he had to breathe, he wasn't alone, he was safe.

Robin clutched onto the front of Nightwing's shirt, doubled over with his head between his knees and shivering from more than just the freezing water that had been dumped over him. Nightwing was rubbing soothing circles on his back and gently running a hand though his hair. The boy's eyes were wide, but focused where no one else could see.

"The Joker got me." He said hoarsely. A glass was pressed against his lips and he swallowed the liquid flowing into his mouth while the tears came.

"You got him back, Jason." Nightwing tucked the boy's head into the crook of his neck and held him close. "You kicked him right in the teeth, because he thought you were gone and you're still here. Now he's locked away, and you have a cool superpower."

"Ima haunt him." Jason sobbed into Dicks shirt. "Throw all his stuff against the walls, and blood, and that scary…" He sobbed again. "…that scary, cheesy ghost scream."

"Maybe you'll develop a Freddy Kruger power." Dick said. "Make him dream about rainbows."

Jason chuckled weakly and pulled away from Dick, burying his face in his hands and trying to breath. It was dark outside, how many hours had he been sitting there screaming? It was hard to care, he was just so tired, didn't want to pretend he wasn't.

"Can I stay here tonight?" He asked. "Just crash on your sofa for, just tonight."

"My sofa is your sofa." Dick said. "You can crash on it whenever you want. We'll have a sleepover, order a ton of pizza."

Jason nodded numbly.

"You want me to call your friend, tell her you're not feeling well?"

Jason nodded again and tipped over resting his head against the armrest.

"Sit tight, okay, I'll be back soon." Dick gently ruffled the boy's hair and stood to make the call.

.

.

.

"What do you mean sick?" Valery asked. "He said he was faking."

"Yeah well, karma hit him hard on this one, you see all the ice-creams and milkshakes he out away today, I'm surprised he could talk at all." The guy on the other end of the line laughed.

"I want to talk to him." She didn't trust that guy at all. Just showing up out of nowhere, saying he was Red's brother just when his real father, a very rich father, started looking for him. She'd been suspicious even before her benefactor had expressed his worries about the situation.

A few weeks ago Red had been terrified of Richard, now they were inseparable.

There wasn't even a pause on the line. "He's not feeling up to it, call back tomorrow and…"

"Let me talk to Red!" She yelled. "Or I'll find where you are and drag him away from you."

There was a scuffle on the other side and she heard the man mutter something about over protective girlfriends before she heard the ghost's scratchy voice.

"Val, my throats killing me right now." He sounded tired, like he'd just woken up. "Can we hang out tomorrow sometime? Richard said he'd cover your shift if ya want."

"You want me to bring you something from, the, you know." She wondered if ghosts had things like pajamas, and if she'd even be able to find anything in the Ghost Zone.

Red chuckled hoarsely. "I'm good, later." There was a click and the line went dead.

She waited a minute, and then dialed another number.

"Mister Masters? He's not coming tonight… yes Sir."


	31. Chapter 31

"Is the target in sight, over."

"Positive, in pursuit now, over."

"Neither of you think this is a little weird?"

"You're supposed to say over, over."

"Fine, he's going to kill you both, over."

"I'm going in for a closer look, over." Danny flew invisibly through the streets of Amity Park his eyes trained on his target while Sam and Tucker followed stealthily at a distance. Danny flew in just close enough to hear what the target was saying.

"Guess it was my fault for eating so much." Red was looking at the various store fronts they walked past.

"I still don't get the deal with that guy." Valery said. "He's way too interested in you."

"Thinks I like the attention."The ghost rolled his eyes. "Like I'm one of his fanboys. Your old man get that promotion?"

"No." Valery sighed and Danny drifted away before he heard what she said next.

"Nothing new, over." The halfa said.

"Guy's, I'm sure he can handle himself for a few hours, you're just looking for an excuse to use your new toys." Sam's voice crackled over Danny's earpiece.

"Do you wanna risk it? Everyone knows she hates ghosts." Danny said. "There has to be a reason she's so persistent and I don't think it's his pretty face, over." They were slowly making their way to the near empty park.

"Wait, I think I see a car pulling up."Tucker said. "And it looks fancy, maybe he was lying about it not being a date."From the sound of his voice, it was obvious the boy was smirking.

"Don't think she'd the king of girl he…" Sam began.

I'm checking it out. "Danny flew closer.

If he didn't know any better he would have thought Red hadn't even noticed the car driving by. Actually knowing better, he could tell that the ghost was more focused on the car than anything, Red was always suspicious of things that stuck out, and things that blended in too well. Danny knew that, but he'd bet Valery didn't. The halfa was mentally gloating over being the obvious better friend when someone stepped out of the car and his blood froze.

"Vlad!"

Before Danny'd screamed out the warning, Red had already gripped the man's arm, twisted until there was a loud 'crack', and then fired off the ecto-blaster at Vlad himself.

"Red wait!" Valery pulled the ghost away, sending his shot into the air.

Danny dove in and tried to fly his friend away from the girl. They'd barely gotten into the air when They were blasted out of it and fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. When he started to stand up Red was shot from behind, then pulled to his feet and dragged away.

"Let go of me you creepy freak!" The ghost twisted out of Vlad's hold and tried to stumbled over to Danny, but the man shot at him some more and carried on until Red was flattened on the ground again.

"Red, it's okay." Valery said, holding her arm's out pleadingly.

Danny ignored her and charged at Vlad. "Listen, I know you're lonely, but get your own friends!"

"Phantom!" Valery tackled Danny, knocking him to the ground. "He doesn't need you anymore, get lost!"

"Well done Miss Gray." Vlad said, picking the now limp ghost up again. "I think it's time I take my boy home now."

"Not on my watch you don't!" Danny blew the girl out of his way with bright ecto-energy beams.

Vlad cried out and threw Red away from him second later, clutching a widening red stripe at his side.

"You little animal!" Vlad growled. Rings appeared and spread out from his middle, leaving Plasmius standing before them. He picked the ghost boy up again and this time slammed him back into the ground. When Danny saw Red's face again it was coated with sticky green ectoplasm.

Danny tried to help him, but was himself blasted away, he went intangible just before he would have been thrown into a car. Red tried the same trick and got out of Vlads hold again, he immediately spun around to deliver a kick to the man's midsection.

Plasmius recovered quickly and grabbed the ghost's leg the ghost's leg, and pulled him closer. He put a charged hand at the back of the boy's head and electrocuted him. Red didn't scream, but bit down on his lower lip so hard it drew out more ectoplasm.

Danny got back to his feet ran at the other halfa again, the knife Red had given him clutched firmly in his hand. Red shook his head, and waved his hand at Danny, surprised, the halfa came to a stop.

"Richard." The ghost croaked out. "Just, go fetch…" Vlad tightened his hold around the ghosts throat and his voice sputtered out.

"Richard?" Plasmius drew Red closer, holding the boy against his chest, one arm still squeezing tightly around his neck while he weakly tried to loosen it. "Don't think he can save you, child." He took out the plasmius maximus again and pressed it against the ghost's head. "I would prefer to not be interrupted though, so you get it the car, Daniel."

Red's struggled increased and he shook his head desperately, tears leaking out the corners of his eyes.

"You're even loopier than I thought if you think I'm letting you get away with him, that's a weapon for halfas Vlad." Danny said, watching Vlad closely for a chance to get at him without hurting Red more.

"Precisely, my dear boy." Vlad ruffled the ghosts hair. "On a halfa it merely drains of all ghostly energy, what do you think it will do to a being composed entirely of that energy?"

Danny's eyes widened in shock. Vlad wouldn't, if he wanted Red badly enough to go through so much trouble then he wouldn't just destroy he, would he? Danny though back to one of his parents rants about ghosts, without their ecto-energy a ghost couldn't maintain their physical forms, they would melt. Red would melt.

"I'll go with you instead." Danny said. "Just put him down, he's just a normal ghost, Vlad, he doesn't have anything to do with this."

"No, Daniel, you have nothing to do with this, but I will be taking you with me regardless. Now get. In. The car." Vlad pressed the sharp points of the plasmius maximus harder into Reds already scraped cheek.

"Danny don't." Red forced the words out. "If you get in that car I swear, I will melt myse…"

"Now, Daniel." Vlad ordered.

Danny swallowed and got into the parked car, doing his best to ignore Red's muffled cries for him to stop. There was a bright flash and Red went silent. A metal sphere was thrown in Danny's lap and the car sped away from the scene of the one-sided fight. He caught Valerie shocked through the window look and pulled her the same rude gesture he knew Red would have before the glass darkened and blocked everything outside from view.

They drove for what felt like hours, Danny cradling the sphere gently in his hands. About as big as his head, clunky and not nearly as convenient as the Fenton thermos. It was one of Skulker's traps, easy enough to break out of for a powerful halfa. He knew Red wouldn't have stopped fighting to get free, it was better that he was in the trap where he couldn't hurt himself doing it.

When the car stopped Danny pulled roughly through the door by a big, muscular ghost and the trap was ripped from his hands.

"Take him to the containment cube." Vlad said, tossing and catching the sphere like a ball.

"Let me calm him down first." Danny begged. If he could just convince Red to stop fighting until help came, then maybe he wouldn't be too badly hurt. Vlad looked like he was going to refuse and Danny's heart sank. "Please."

"Very well." Vlad smirked and twisted the sphere open.

With a flash of light the ghost was perfectly still on the metallic floor. The halfa rushed over to his friends side. "Red?" He gently shook his friend. Red's eyes slowly opened. He looked from Danny, to Vlad. It happened fast, faster than Danny had ever seen Red move before.

One second he was on the floor, and the next he was in front of Vlad, knife buried deep inside the man's chest. Vlad backhanded the ghost, and disappeared, from behind another Vlad pressed the plasmius maximus into Red's neck and activated it.

White fire engulfed the ghosts body, and Red's tortured screams filled the room, his human clothes disintegrating in a moment. Danny wanted to rush over, his first instinct to put out the flames, but he was held in place by the huge ghost, his human form too weak to break away. It was like layers were peeling off the ghost, burning up and disappearing.

Vlad watched, sick fascination plastered all across his face. It ended after minutes that felt like hours and Danny's voice was hoarse from crying out to his friend. Someone dropped to the ground where Red had stood, someone that wasn't a ghost.

The boy's red, yellow and green costume hung from him in tatters, his bright caped stained deep red. Dark hair, shot through with white hung over his badly bruised face.

Vlad kicked the boy over, and blue eyes just barely opened.

"Fascinating."

.

.

.

He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, almost the exact same feeling that had driven him to return Gotham after his space mission with the Titans. The communicator was clutched in his hand, ready to call his brother again, the only thing stopping him was how irritated Jason had been after the first dozen times he'd called already. Jason wanted to spend time with his friend, away from school and fighting.

That was good, taking an interest in something normal meant he was healing. Maybe soon he'd trust his friends enough to stop hiding from them, then there was only a small step to trusting himself to do the same.

Dick made himself a bowl of cereal and paced the length on his small kitchen while he ate. A loud knocking interrupted his meal and he checked his security feed. Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley were beating on his door, their eyes shifting nervously down the hall behind them. It took a moment for him to notice the extra weapons they carried.

Dick set down the bowl and opened the door. He didn't even have a chance to ask questions and the answers were being shouted at him by the teen. They talked over each other, making it hard to decipher what either was saying. Something about Jason, Phantom and Valery.

"Stop." He ordered, silencing them instantly. "What happened?"

"Valery sold Red out." Tucker blurted out. "Danny knew she was up to something, so we followed…"

"Then Vlad showed up, and he took them. We couldn't go to the Fenton's because, if they knew Red was a ghost…" Sam clutched her large blaster tightly.

"Okay, okay." Dick set them both down on his sofa, his own heart beating a mile a minute. They were worried, this was bad, but he couldn't let them see that, had to keep them calm. "I need you to tell me everything you know about this Vlad. What he wants, how I can beat him and where to find him, can you do that for me?"

His little brother had been taken by another madman.

Dick sped after the oddly named tracking device through streets he hadn't traveled before, then into open wilderness. The motorcycle autocorrected any bad turns he made in his haste, tires gripping the road as tightly as he was going to grip that man's throat.

He'd wanted to call Bruce, first thing he'd heard, but he planned on taking care of it long before the man ever arrived. Nightwing would be more than enough to deal with this half-ghost that thought he could mess with the youngest member of the bat-family and get away with it. It was his first solo mission in what felt like years, the equipment he'd taken from the teens felt heavier for his unfamiliarity with them.

They'd been left at his apartment, kept safe behind his security system, their own weapons ready incase they were targeted next. Jason wouldn't forgive him if Nightwing let something happened to them while on mission because he didn't have the focus to keep an eye on them.

By nightfall a structure had become visible in the otherwise empty expanse of land he'd been traveling through. It was small, box-like, maybe the size of Dicks bedroom. Circling above it were the three vultures that had tried to make off with Jason and his friends weeks ago.

Nightwing hid his motorcycle behind some ancient, leafless trees and crept closer, blending into the shadows of the uneven ground. He tied a wingding to the end of a line on a fishing rod called the Fenton fisher. The birds didn't notice him, they were bickering amongst themselves, though they were too far away for Nightwing to hear what they said.

The wingding flew in an arc, circling all three of them in one motion. With one sharp tug he pulled all three screaming birds from the sky. They struggled in their tight binding for a minute before Nightwing leaped out of the shadows, landing on top of them.

"He there." He said, a grin on his face. "I'm looking for someone, you wouldn't mind giving a guy some directions, right?"

"No, no." All three shook their heads. "Where are you going friend?"

"I just need to know how to get to mister Vlad Plasmius, he's somewhere in there isn't he?" Nightwing said, a wingding spinning in his hands.

"He's busy, come back later." One of them said and the blade was instantly at it's neck.

"I hear these really hurt when they cut, wanna see?" Nightwing asked, bending in closely.

"Third door on the left, you can find him on the cameras!" A bird blurted out.

"Thanks." Nigtwing said, the grin spreading over his face again. All three were sucked into the Fenton thermos and he moved on.

The security on the doors was old, nothing like the stuff he was used to, and it only took minutes for him to be in. Inside there was blood on the floor. Dick swallowed stepped over it, it could have belonged to anyone and there was no time for an analysis. It didn't take long for him to find the trap door that opened on some stairs leading down into what had to be the true facility.

He moved silently, checking every door he came by, there were indeed, security monitors in the third room on the left. He pulled the green blob watching them into the thermos from behind and took it's seat. Their were only cameras in the suspiciously empty halls. He tinkered with the control panel, trying to find anything inside the rooms, but found nothing.

If Sam and Tucker had been right, then this had to have been one of the places where this Vlad Plasmius conducted experiments on ghosts. One off the doors on the monitor read generator room, and that was Nightwing's next destination.

Inside that room he was actually mildly surprised to find that it really was the source of the facilities power. This wasn't an infiltration at all. He shut the generator down and broke some parts off it for good measure. The facility was plunged into darkness and Nightwing activated his night-vision lenses.

They'd definitely know something was wrong now, but he, like his mentor, operated best under the cover of darkness. Taking advantage of the confusion and paranoia of knowing there was someone there without knowing where was one of the first things he'd learned.

Things were still too quiet through, he was expecting some kind of response, no security detail could be that incompetent. He'd just come to the hesitant conclusion that there was no more security when a beam of light shot through the darkness. Nightwing got out of the way in time to avoid being hit, but his eyes couldn't escape the bright glare. He hurriedly clicked off the night-vision and had to blink away some spots in his vision before he could see his glowing opponent.

"A human?" A large ghost with fiery green hair laughed. "I thought this would be hard."

Nightwing let himself appear disoriented while the host marched up to him. "Yeah? And you are?"

"Skulker, the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone." He fired of another beam, which Nightwing dodged. "You've made your final human mistake."

Nightwing waited for Skulker to get closer before he launched himself forward, the Fenton fisher ready. He stabbed the attached wingding deep into the ghost's robotic suit and wrapped the line tightly around it.

He knelt over the robot and pulled back his metal clad fist. "I'm Nightwing, the universes most ticked off big brother, now where's your boss?" Skulker laughed and Nightwing smashed his fist into the ghosts face, there was a hollow crack. "That's new." He said and felt around the bottom of the head and pulled up when he felt an opening. The ghost's robotic head was tossed aside and Nightwing picked up the little green blob inside.

"Let me go!" It yelled in its tiny voice. "You'll pay for this!"

"That's adorable." Nightwing smirked. "I know someone who'd love something like you as a pet, then again, she might just turn you into a snack too." He shook the mini ghost. "Come on, you don't want that and I don't want to play search and destroy all night."

Nightwing heard a scream down the hall and sucked the useless ghost into the thermos. He wanted to run, but surprise might have been the only advantage he'd have in the next confrontation, so he forced himself to sacrifice speed for silence.

There were some flickers of light underneath a door and Nightwing eased it open. The room was filled with monitors and what looked like surgical equipment. In the center was a gasping figure hooked up to an I.V and strapped onto a steel table.

He would have been harder to recognize if not for the tattered Robin uniform he wore.

"Robin." Nightwing hurried to cut through the leather straps around his little brother's bloody wrists, The boy's watery blue eyes were fixed on his older brother, cracked lips moving wordlessly. Nightwing pulled him up and tipped a flask of some medicated water into his mouth.

Robin's breathing sped up and he curled in on himself. "She sold me out." He whispered, tears dripping down his cheeks.

"You don't know that." Nightwing said as he took out roles of gauze and some disinfectant.

"I do, and she, she had a freaking smoke while he was…" He had to pause to catch his breath again.

Crap. Nightwing did his best to keep calm and carry on dressing the boy's many wounds. That was something he'd hoped he'd be there when that little piece of information crawled out from the back of his brother's mind. It made too much sense that he'd remembered now of all times, under such similar circumstances.

"Valery too." Robin whimpered. "She, she helped him catch me, set it up, all of it. I should have seen it coming, shouldn't have let her get close. I'm so, so stupid." He sobbed.

"Listen here." Nightwing peeled off his mask and looked the boy in the eyes. "That wasn't your fault. All I'm saying now, is that wasn't your fault. When we've gotten you and your friend out of this you can break down over it, but right now there isn't time." He wiped the blood and tears off robin's face and carefully applied the disinfectant before taping cotton gauze pads over them. "Put this on and hurry."

The boy held the red and gold in his hands, tracing a finger over the symbol and crossed belts at the chest. He pressed the mask against his eyes first . When he looked up his face was blank. "I think I saw where they took Phantom, it shouldn't take long to find him."

"Leaving already?" A tall man appeared at the doorway. "I'm afraid I must insist you stay a while longer."

"You're the one that did this?" Nightwing's fists were clenched at his sides so tightly it was almost painful.

"And you're the Richard they called for, I must say I'm impressed you got this far." He gestured at Robin. "Fascinating, isn't it, how he was able to retain all of that ecto…" several small disks attached themselves to his chest, shocking him into silence, they beeped rapidly and exploded, knocking the man through the wall of the adjacent room.

Nightwing put the disk launcher back into its compartment, and Robin, now fully dressed in the new, not-quite Robin suit was rushing past him, not even sparing a glance at the gaping hole. Before chasing after he took a moment to clip the specter-deflector around the waist of the barely conscience Plasmius and break the locking mechanism.

"Robin!" He called and ran towards the sounds of doors being kicked in.

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Phantom was still somewhere in the building, maybe he was fine, maybe he wasn't, Jason didn't let himself thin on that. He kicked in every door down the hall he'd seen them drag Phantom down. They were all filled with more medical equipment and green stained surgical tables. In some he found cages of ghostly animals, Jason paused at those.

Plasmius needed those animals for his research, and Jason was cognizant enough to know that he didn't want that research going anywhere, so he broke the cages, freeing the animals to escape. Someone was calling for him to slow down, but he couldn't, if he slowed down enough he'd think. All he could afford to think about was the mission, or else he wouldn't be able to complete it.

He broke into another room and found not one, but several Phantoms, all suspended in some sort of green fluid, he released all of them and kept moving. Nightwing could look them over and see if any were the original, Jason would keep going in case none were. He heard Nightwing stop at that door, then slam it loudly.

The final door in the hallway he had a hard time busting open. Nightwing caught up to him and took his place at a control panel. Jason watched him work, it took not even a minute of typing in a small wrist computer for the door to slide open. Both of them rushed in to find Phantom, trapped in a cubic device that left only his head visible.

"What's going on out there?" Danny asked, panic clear on his face.

"It's fine." Jason said, smiling kind of hurt his scraped cheeks, but he tried anyway. "Do you know how to open this?"

"There's a button on the front. Red are you okay, what did he…?" Danny began, but a curt shake of the head from Nightwing silenced him. Danny fell out of the device and quickly got to his feet.

"You okay to move?" Jason asked, pulling the other boy to his feet.

"I can't go ghost for a while, but sure." Danny said.

"Great." Nightwing swung the boy onto his back and took off running, Jason following close behind. "Let's get out of here before Dracula wakes up."

Jason's lungs were heaving by the time they broke out into the pale moonlight outside, his limbs feeling like they were going to fall off if he used them much longer. He leaned against a dry tree to catch his breath while Nightwing loaded Danny onto the motorcycle.

There, mission accomplished. Jason sank to his knees and let his control go as arms reached for him.

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What's wrong with him?!" Danny's terrified eyes were fixed on the masked boy being supported in Richards arms.

"He's having a panic attack." Nightwing held the boy in front of him and started the ignition. "Hold on." He told Danny and they sped away from the research facility. The boy had more questions to ask, but they were going too fast for anything to get through.

By the time they got back to the city the sky was starting to light up, luckily the roads were almost empty, so it didn't take much longer for them to reach the apartment. They bypassed the front entrance and went up the fire escape instead. Danny made way more noise on the way up than Nightwing had thought he would, probably waking some people a few hours early.

Nightwing deactivated the locks on the door and stepped inside. Sam and Tucker were in the kitchen, weapons at the ready. He told them they'd done good job and went into his room with Robin and shut the door.

Jason pulled off his mask and curled into a ball on Dick's messy bed, his breathing already starting to slow down after the long ride.

Nightwing sat down next to him, a hand on his shaking shoulder. "How much did you remember?"

"Everything." Jason whispered, fresh tears spilled from his eyes, soaking the dressings on his face as he stared straight ahead. "I know why I didn't want to remember."

"I'm sorry." Dick wanted to pull the boy into a hug, but he had the feeling Jason wouldn't appreciate the gesture right then.

"Why? It's my own fault." Jason chuckled darkly. "I never listened to Bruce, he told me to wait and I didn't, he told me to stop being Robin, and I ran away with the suit." He buried his face in his knees, hugging them tightly to himself.

"Jason, you can't…"

"My own mother did that to me, for money, and he warned me. Wonder what Valery got, more fancy toys to shoot down ghosts, because I was stupid and I always know better, don't I? They'll all do it to me wont they." His body was wracked with sobs. "Friends, family. I wish I could say I wish I'd just die, but even that didn't, make it go away!" He pressed his fists to his mouth to muffle the screams that escaped his hoarse throat. "What do I have to do, let myself get melted into a puddle of…"

Dick pulled Jason's hands away and slapped him hard enough to pull off the gauze on one cheek.

"That's. Not. True." Dick took hold of the boy's shoulders and shook him. "You say you remembered everything? You're not stupid enough to think what that woman did meant anything! Who she was, doesn't mean anything!" Dick yelled. "You were trying to help her, because that's what Robin does, he helps people and she took advantage of that. It wasn't because you deserved it, it was because she was scum."

He took hold of both sides of Jason's face and forced the boy to look at him.

"Valery made you think she was your friend, and you could see she didn't have anymore, so you wanted to help, because that's what Robin does." He repeated it again, painfully aware of the tears soaking his hands. "Robin helps people, and you were a great Robin, Jason, you've helped so many people. Robin's not selfish, Jason Peter Todd isn't selfish, and doing what you're talking about would be very, very selfish."

"You have to promise me you won't ever, ever do something to hurt yourself like that."His eyes burned with unshed tears. "Can you promise me that, Little Wing?"

Jason didn't answer, his eyes turned away from his brother, and Dick wanted to scream. To even think of doing something like that, it was so far removed from the Jason he remembered that he couldn't even put it into words.

"What the heck, Jason!" Dick yelled. "Sheila Haywood wasn't your family, Valery Gray wasn't your friend, they never were. They were cowardly, pathetic, selfish people. Now you're thinking of making yourself disappear, for them?! I'm your family, Jason, were family, me and you and Bruce and Babs and Alfred, why would you hurt us like that? You're friends are waiting outside that door, are you going to hurt them? Answer me Jason!"

"I don't want to!" He cried. "I don't want to. I just want to go to sleep Dick. I'm so weak, I can't even go a day without breaking down. I don't want to do this anymore, every time it gets better it gets worse." He sobbed. "I already died, can't I just rest now?"

"Stay here." Dick ordered and marched out of the room, ignoring the teenagers watching him anxiously he ripped of the door of the medicine cabinet in his bathroom and went back to Jason.

"What's this for?" Jason asked.

"Look." Dick pushed Jason's face near the mirrored surface to make him look at his reflection. "Does that look dead to you?"

The boy stared at his own bruised, tear stained face in awe. Setting the mirror aside he pulled off his gloves and looked closely at the darker skin of his hands.

"You didn't let The freaking Joker kill you." Dick said, brushing a hand over his little brother's white streaked dark hair. "Are you going to let this do you in? Aren't we all worth more than Sheila Haywood and Valery can live for us, can't you?"

"I want to see Bruce," Jason said softly, "and Babs, and Alfie. I miss them." He let Dick pull him into a hug and cried into his brother's chest. "I want to tell them I miss them. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I made all of you work so hard, and then I…"

"It's not your fault Little Wing." Dick said, holding him tightly. "And your friends, are you okay to see them yet?"

Jason shook his head but pulled away from Dick and stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. He walked to the door and turned the handle.

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Danny was watching the door anxiously, waiting for any sign that his friend would be okay. Sam and Tucker sat on either side of him, all three of them were watching over the back of the sofa. He didn't know what Vlad had done after he was dragged away, but what had happened before was horrifying enough.

Red had survived whatever the plasmius maximus had done to him, and been well enough to find and free Danny. Then he'd just stopped, and Richard had locked them both in that room. A brief moment of hope was shattered when Richard left the room only to storm back into it and shut the door again.

Danny was left to explain to his friends what had happened, and he knew next to nothing about it. No, he didn't know why Red looked so different, or how Richard had beaten Vlad. He didn't know why Vlad had taken Red or what he'd done to him.

He didn't know if Red was going to be okay.

The door opened again and all three teens leaned closer in expectation. Red appeared, in his red and black body suit, Richard hovering close behind.

"You guys are still here?" The boy asked, a small smile on his lips. "Doncha have school in like an hour?"

"Red!" His friends rushed forward, all of them pulling him into a tight group hug.

"Hey my ribs!" The ghost struggled in their hold.

"Dude you're alive!" Tucker said, his eyes suspiciously wet. "Well, not really but…"

"The way Danny was talking we thought you were going to melt down or something." Sam smiled.

"Hey." Danny scratched the back of his neck with an embarrassed grin. "I almost thought you did, what happened, are you okay?"

"I'd say it wasn't worse than dying, but I can't say I know how that feels anymore." Red laughed, brushing aside a small lock of black hair.

"So what, you're not a ghost anymore?" Tuckers face scrunched up in confusion.

"I dunno what I am." Red said. "But I know what I aint, and I aint a dead guy." He yawned, "But seriously, you guys need to get to get to school before you blow whatever cover you came up with."

"And what are you going to do?" Sam asked, her arms crossed. "Sit around all day."

"Come on, we wanna hear how your bro beat Plasmius." Tucker threw an arm around Red's shoulder.

"I need a nap." Red said. "Besides, I gotta get some stitches. I'll be here when ya get back." He grinned.

For some reason Danny had the feeling those words meant a lot more than they let on.

"Okay, lets get outta here guys." Danny said.

"Yeah, pretty boy needs his sleep." Tucker laughed.

"Richard the pretty one, I'm the badass." Red called as they were leaving.

"Seeya pretty boy." Sam waved as she headed out.

Just before he closed the door, Danny saw Red practically fold into Richard. The man's lips moved and Red nodded. Then the wooden barrier shut completely, hiding the brothers from view.


	32. Chapter 32

Danny held the envelope in his hands, white but for his name printed neatly on the front. He was waiting for Sam and Tucker before he opened it, and the suspense was killing him. He hadn't had much time to study the past year, and he was terrified the little piece of paper in his hands would bare the proof of that.

He could just see the looks on his parent's faces, well on his mom's face, his dad didn't think he needed much of a formal education, schools didn't teach ghost fighting after all. The worst would be Jazz, she'd give him that look and say she was proud of him for trying, but he'd know she was disappointed. It was kind of embarrassing that he still wanted his sister to feel proud of him, but as long as nobody ever found out it he didn't feel too bad about it.

Sam showed up first, her own envelop held loosely between two fingers.

"You think you passed?" She asked nonchalantly.

"With my attendance record?" Danny scoffed. "I hope I'm that lucky, I wish I were the one stuck with the cramtastic two-thousand for hours instead of Tucker."

"I'm here!" Tucker yelled and came at them running. "You guys ready? Coz I am so ready."

As one they tore open their envelopes and unfolded the sheets of paper within.

"Yes!" Both Danny and Tucker cried out, leaping into the air to slap each other high fives while Sam kept up her disaffected scowl.

"All A's baby!" Tucker kissed his report card. "I love that machine."

"Same as always." Sam shrugged and put the paper away.

"Mostly B's and a C." Danny laughed and hugged his friends. "And Red said I wouldn't make it, I did better than him! We have to celebrate, like all of us! It's finally summer, and I'm not getting grounded."

"You're going to call and rub it in his face, aren't you?" Sam asked.

Danny was already dialing.

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Jason sneezed and drew his blanket more tightly around him. He'd gotten a minor infection days ago that had flared up the previous night, and he was really sick for the first time since he'd had a bad reacting to the bunny wraiths. He hadn't had to worry about infections when he was mostly ghost.

He was wrapped up on Dick's sofa with a mug of coco in one hand, a book in the other and the T.V blaring in the background. His hair had gotten some more white in it, and there were thin red circles forming in his eyes. At the rate they he was going Dick estimated he'd look like a ghost again in a few weeks.

Jason tuned a page and the book slipped through his hands, he growled and picked it up again. The intangibility was back again, though the hat hadn't yet made its return. He finished of his coco before he had the chance to drop that too.

"Hey, Little Wing, wanna see something cool?" Dick called from his bedroom.

"What?" Jason called back.

Dick popped into view, a microscope in his arms. He set it down the table and slipped in a slide.

"What is it?" Jason asked sliding of the sofa, his blanket still around his shoulders to look.

"Your friend's blood." Dick said.

"Dick!" Jason glared at his brother. "Why d'ya have samples of my friend's blood?"

"Just look." Dick pushed him towards the scope.

"If you let that vampire bite you and start… Cool." Instead of regular red cells, Danny's all had a glowing green spec on them.

"See what happens when l give if a shock of ecto-energy." Dick pressed a stick against the slide and before Jason's eyes each cell turned bright green.

"It's still creepy ya have this." Jason said, looking up.

"Sure." Dick took out another slide. "Now let's look at your blood. This is from when those dogs used you as a chew toy." Dick defended before Jason could complain. "It really got everywhere."

"Yay for accelerated healing." Jason mumbled. His own blood cells were shifting between green and red, glowing with a pale, shimmering light."

"See." Dick ruffled his hair. "As ugly as you are right now, you can still be pretty on the inside."

Jason elbowed his brother in the gut, knocking the breath out of him without looking back.

"Okay, one more." Dick wheezed. He changed the slides again. "I got this when I stitched you up a few days ago." Jason bit his lower lip before looking that time. Only a few red cells were shifting to green. "Looks like the greens been slowly building itself back up."

"How did this happen?" Jason asked, looking down at his still normal hands. "Dick, d'ya think there's a way to fix it?"

"I don't know." Dick said, taking a look at the blood himself. "The only way the timelines matchup is if you were in the Ghost Zone for a few extra months you don't remember." In the kitchen the phone started ringing. "I'll get it."

Jason looked back at the microscope and switched in his older blood slide.

"Phone call for the invalid." Dick said, tossing Jason the phone.

"'Sup Boss." Jason said, keeping his eyes on the scope.

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The first day of Summer was, well very warm and summery. It was Danny's idea to go to the miniature golf course of all things to celebrate their passing grades, too bad he'd suggested in front of their parents. Apparently the golf course was the only place in Amity that hadn't seen a ghost attack yet, and they wanted to find out why, while also getting in some family bonding time.

Jazz had of course been made to go along with it too, the place was at least quiet enough for her to work on some early college applications in peace. Good thing Danny's friends were used to weirder things that his parents or she was sure her little brother would be mortified.

Her little brother was nowhere in sight, but the difficulty his friend Tucker was having hitting his golf ball gave her a clue as to where he was hiding. With how often he used his powers in public she'd almost been genuinely surprised that they hadn't figured out his secret yet, then breakfast had come to life. As much as they loved their parents, both Fenton children knew they were completely clueless.

Jack and Maddie Fenton were investigating a mini windmill. Talking excitedly about whatever readings they were getting. Jazz just hoped they wouldn't notice anything off about Danny's ghost friend had arrived. As though her thoughts had summoned them, a motorcycle came up the parking lot and a boy was practically dragged by his brother up the path to the table where Jazz was sitting.

The boy pulled off his helmet and she was surprised by how different he looked. He didn't even have that a hoody on anymore, now dressed in a pale collared shirt and jeans. His frown was gone for a moment when his brother ruffled his two tones hair then he pushed the man away carried on by himself to his friends, not looking back.

"Hey there." The boy's brother slid into a seat across from her, a cheerful smile on his face. "Are you sure this is a mini golf course?"

"I think so." Jazz looked around, expecting some weird paranormal phenomenon to change the location into something else.

"Oh. Just checking." He leaned in closer to her. "'Cause I always thought you had to go to heaven to see an angel."

Jazz felt her face flush red, not so much at the words as how unexpected they were. She was in no way adept at flirting, and any time someone else initiated it, they were easy enough to brush off. They didn't smile like the boy in front of her. Thankfully she was saved from having to make a reply when a golf ball flew from the teens on the field straight at his head.

He caught the projectile and glared at where it had come from. Both Danny and Red pointed at each other, their faces the picture of childish innocence and the older boy threw it back.

"They grow up so fast, right?" He asked. "One minute they're following you everywhere, the next they're trying to kill you with golf balls."

"I'm guessing you're Richard." Jazz said holding out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Jazz."

"A lovely, musical name, for such a lovely musical voice." Instead of shaking her hand, Richard lifted it to his lips. "How haven't we met before."

Jazz was ready for it this time, and just laughed his words off. "You'd better stop before one of our brothers decides to strangle you in your sleep."

"Hey don't joke about that." He looked back at the boy's skittishly. "Mine really would."

"And you think mine wouldn't?" Jazz asked.

"Would he do it with my own shoelaces?" Richard asked. He cast a wary eye at the kids who'd somehow forgotten the golf and were using their clubs for a mock sword fight. "Hey, I'm going to snack bar real quick, can I grab you a soda or something?"

"Sure." She said. He'd only been gone a few minutes when a loud booming voice echoed through the golf course.

"BEWARE!" A dozen boxes were suddenly floating in the air, they were turned upside down and golf balls rained down on the grassy course. "I AM THE BOX…"

"GHOST!" Jack Fenton yelled, a huge blaster already as he charged at the blue ghost.

"Dear, the new containment unit!" Maddie ran after him. "We'll get a lasting sample from this one for sure!"

"And no funny business with that boy while were gone!" Her dad, pointed a finger at Jazz when he spun to catch the piece of equipment his wife threw at him.

Richard had just been on his way back and saluted at her father before the huge man disappeared around a mini volcano. Jazz felt her face heat up again, and this time she found herself thinking she'd be the Death-by-embarrassment ghost before she had the chance to talk to another boy again. Richard brushed some golf balls of off his seat and slid a soda in front of Jazz.

"Those are your parents?" He asked, his eyes fixed on the general direction of the loud screaming and explosions.

"That's them." Jazz hid her flushed face in her arms.

Richard burst out laughing so hard he started coughing. He took a sip of his soda and brushed his hair out of his face. "Your parents are awesome."

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Danny had run off to rescue the Box Ghost from the Fentons, and exercise that had them both tired out by the time it had been accomplished. Apparently he was a friend of Jason's and he's heard frightening things from the Fentons about what they'd do once they caught a ghost.

At the end of the day Jason was yawning as they made their way back to the motorcycle.

"See, I told you you'd have fun." Dick nudged his little brother, almost tipping the tired boy over.

"Ya just wanted an excuse to flirt." Jason said. His put off expression slowly fell and he sighed sadly. "I couldn't tell them."

"There's still time." Dick wrapped and an arm around his little brothers shoulder and roughly pulled him closer. "It's not like you'll never come back. A few more tweaks and the tube in the cave will be a little less than excruciatingly painful." Dick chucked, but slowed his walk when the joke didn't even get an annoyed scoff from his little brother. "We talked about this Little Wing, you can't just not tell them."

"I know." Jason leaned into Dicks hold. "I'll tell them before we go. There's still time, right?"

"Yeah." Dick picked up the boy and lifted him onto his back. "There's still lots of time."

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Frederich Isak Showenhower sat in a bare white room. He hated that place, and the GIW agents that routinely tried to interrogate him about his family's wealth of knowledge on ghostly artifacts. He didn't care about their threats, there was nothing left he could lose.

Without his staff he had nothing. His knowledge of anything else he could use to rise to power was just that, knowledge. He needed ghosts to fetch those kinds of things for him, and no ghost would obey a human willingly. It was all that ghost boy's fault, if it weren't for that brat and his friends then he would still be traveling throughout the world, committing perfect crimes with the help of those stupidly powerful ghosts.

He glowered at the white walls; if he had that ghostly power he could have gone intangible and left the prison of the incompetent agents who couldn't hold a ghost to save their pathetic lives. Suddenly a hand reached through that wall and grabbed the back of his white jumper, pulling him with it to the other side.

"Freakshow." The blue-skinned ghost that stood in front of him was practically radiating power. Its fanged mouth curling into a smirk.

"Plasmius." The human greeted, unsure of what this ghost wanted from him.

"We have a common enemy in Amity Park." The ghost said. "I have a business proposal that I think will benefit us both immensely."

"Phantom." Freakshow said, and the ghost's smirk widened. "I'm listening."

"What do you know of a ghost called Pariah Dark?"


	33. Chapter 33

Pariahs keep was without a doubt the least traveled place in the entire Ghost Zone. It meant things for the otherworldly inhabitants that they tried would rather have forgotten. The very ambience of the place was enough to drive most lesser ghosts so far away from it that they'd never see it once in all their many years of existence.

Even the more powerful ghosts avoided the place, keeping their rampages to other, less eerie areas of the Ghost Zone. Beyond the obvious ambient energy, there was another reason for the chilling atmosphere of the keep.

It made sense for it to be frightening, as it was also the current resting place of the very embodiment of fear. Freakshow followed Vlad Plasmius into the keep, a staff topped with swirling green clutched in his claw like hands. His new toy wasn't powerful enough to work with anyone he'd used the old one on, but he wouldn't be needing any of those ghosts gain.

They went past artifacts that could have been treasures themselves. Only one piece held their attention. In the deepest part of the keep was the prize that would kick off the most ambitious plan either had ever enacted. The spirit of Halloween itself, the Fright Knight.

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"Thanks for helping me with this Red."Sam said, holding out a blood red flowed for the not-quite ghost boy. "I'd have asked Danny, but well."

Tucker had built some high powered water guns and he'd decided the hot summer day was the perfect time to test it. He and Danny had come over of course, but they were so focused on their water fight that they barely noticed anything else.

"S'fine." Red reached for the flower. "So I just hold it and see what happens?"

"They were used in witch hunts years ago." Sam said.

Red took the flower and turned it over in his hands. "Blood blossoms, huh?" He held it near his face. "I'm not feeling any…" He tossed the flower back at her, doubling over and clutching the hand that had been holding it to his chest. "That's the freaking flower from Hell!"

"I'm sorry!" Sam grabbed one of the waiting bottles of water and doused the boy's hands and face in its contents. "Do you need me to call your…"

"No!" The hand he used to wave her off was reddish and blistered. "It's not so bad." He finished rinsing his hands off himself. "I'm fine, just bloody freaked out about it."

Ever since what had happened with Vlad, Red had barely left His brother's side at all, not even to show up for the last few days of school, and Richard was always there in the background when they went out. Tucker had jokingly said the guy had a job at every place in the city. That Red didn't want her to call was weird, but if they were fighting or something she didn't want to butt in.

"Well that means they work, I guess I should plant some more." Sam put her phone away. "You know anything about plants?"

"Growing them? Zilch." Red made a cutting motion with his hands. "If ya want them dead I'm the guy to…" He was interrupted by a stream of pressurized water hitting him square in the chest hard enough to knock the unsuspecting boy off his feet.

Danny and Tucker stood a meter away, laughing their heads off. Before Sam had a chance to say anything he was on his feet and chasing after the other boys. Tucker panicked and dropped his water blaster, without slowing down Red scooped the weapon up and spent the next few minutes shooting down his friends.

"Sam! Help!" Danny cried, laughing as he ran towards her. Red shot him from behind, and the halfa wound up on the ground at Sam's feet, his blaster falling from his hands and into the bed of blood blossoms.

"Oh no." Sam deadpanned, halfheartedly waving her hands. "Please don't kill him."

"I'll spare you this time." Red scowled and slung the mock weapon across his back, he'd taken only a single step before he was blasted off to the side by Tucker who'd picked up Danny's blaster. "Avenge me!" Red tossed Sam the blaster.

"Sam, come on now, let's talk this over" Tucker said, backing away nervously.

Sam smirked as she walked slowly towards him, then he broke into a run and so did she.

A strong wind suddenly picked up and dark purple clouds rolled in, blocking out the sun completely. Sam stopped in her pursuit and looked around at her suddenly very dark back yard, now lit only by the automatic night-lights. Even though she hadn't gotten wet she shivered, something very bad was coming.

"Please tell me this is the usual weather here." Red said hopefully, looking up at the dark sky.

A garden hose suddenly sprang to life and wrapped around Tuckers feet, pulling him off the ground. "Whoa!" The techno geek screamed. "Why is it always me!?"

Danny had gone ghost a second later and blasted the hose to pieces, he caught his friend and set him gently on the ground just in time for a rake to charge at them. Red grabbed it before it got very far and snapped it across his knee.

"What is this, the Garden Ghost?" Red asked, throwing the pieces away from him.

Screams began echoing from the streets and they all rushed to the front of the house to check it out. All over mailboxes, streetlights and even cars were coming to life and chasing down anyone who had the misfortune of being on the streets. They'd only fought one ghost that had that kind of power.

"Fright Knight." Danny, Sam, and Tucker said as one, and took off for the center of town where a wide stream of ghostly light was beaming from the sky. Danny flew off while the rest of them followed more slowly on foot.

"Didn't we beat this guy like months ago?" Tucker said as they ran.

"Well it's pretty obvious he got out." Sam looked around at all the people trying to escape into their home only for them to run out screaming their possessed furniture chasing closely behind.

"It's not obvious to me, what's going on here?" Red asked.

"He's the spirit of Halloween." Sam said.

"He showed up the last one caused all kinds of freaky trouble." Tucker shivered. "He makes you see your worst fears man." He patted the blaster still slung across his back, ad when he turned ahead he was almost wrapped in a shaggy rug.

Red leaped in front of the geek and sliced the rug in half. Both pieces then attacked separately and were themselves sliced. "The Boss can beat this guy again. Right?" Red asked, a knife in each hand.

"Sure, all you gotta do is stick the Soul Shredder in a pumpkin." Tucker said, ducking out of a mailboxes path.

"The Soul Shredder?" Red asked. Kicking in the mailbox until it was a flattened hunk of unmoving metal.

"His sword." Sam used her own small knife to stab a living slipper that had been thrown out of a window.

"Great." Red said. "You two get the pumpkin, Ima go help the Boss." Red leaped on top on the back of an out of control car and stabbed his knives it the roof, letting it carry him away.

"Yeah, great." Sam deadpanned. "Tucker hurry up."

"I'm trying!" The boy called, stomping down on a trio of remote controlled cars.

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Getting a pumpkin had been easy, all they had to do was go to a grocery store and buy one from a shopkeeper that was very confused to have customers in all the chaos. Getting the pumpkin to where their friends were facing off against a ghost, now that was the hard part.

The closer they got to the center of town the more frequently they ran into freaky things that shouldn't have been moving in the first place.

Now Tucker liked to think of himself as a pretty chill guy, but when he was attacked by a giant teddy bear, he knew he was going to need therapy for a few years. He and Sam hurried through the anarchy in the streets, and the signs that a fight had been taking place grew more evident.

They heard a scream and Danny came falling out of the air, crashing into a street light and flattening it under him. He stood up slowly, cradling his head in his hands. "You guys get the pumpkin?" He asked.

Sam held up the large orange vegetable. "You guys get the sword?"

"Working on it." Danny took off into the air again and the Fright Knight came into view.

Red, now dressed in his red and black bodysuit was hanging at the ghosts back, arms wrapped tightly around the knights neck. The ghost was flailing, trying to dislodge the boy while also dodging Danny's blasts. After a particularly powerful lurch, Red was flung around to the ghost's front, he raised one on his knives high over his head and thrust it at the ghost's chest.

The knife snapped off, and Red had just enough time for the shock to be evident on his face before he was thrown of the ghost. He barely caught himself in time to avoid becoming a smear on the paving by gripping onto a streetlight before dropping into the back seat of a convertible.

"Sup guys." He groaned, practically falling out of the car. Tucker helped the boy to his feet and noticed a thin trail of blood leaking out the corner of his mouth.

"You okay, man?" Tucker asked, he'd never seen blood in a ghost fight before, and it made him really uncomfortable, especially coming a kid the same age as him.

"I'm good." Red wiped the blood away, his mask hiding any hint of his expression. "Broke my knife." He tucked the broken knife away and got ready to make another run at the ghost.

"Look out!" Sam cried.

The Fright Knight rushed at the boys, the Soul Shredder raised high above his head. Tucker panicked used the only weapon he had on him. He squirted the ghost with a highly pressurized stream of water from his blaster. The ghost stopped in his tracks, red eyes blazing. Tucker eyes widened in horror, it was going to go after him next, he knew it, then he'd be the one getting thrown around. The ghost took one halting step forward, then steam began to lift off his armor.

The Fright Knight's horse flew in, he leaped onto it's back and was carried away, out of sight before anyone could even think of chasing after him. The sky was instantly brighter and all of the possessed objects dropped down, becoming lifeless once again.

Tucker stared ahead in shock, barely noticing when Red eased the blaster out of his hands and opened the large water compartment.

"What the heck did you put in this freaking thing?"

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"Looks like pollen." Richard said his eyes pressed against his microscope. "I can do some tests to figure out which kind, but you kids know already, don't you?"

"The blood blossoms." Red said while he sprayed whipped cream over some mugs.

Sam looked guiltily at the bandages wrapped around his hand when he set one of the mugs in front of her. He caught the look and gave her a smile before sitting down himself

They'd all gone to Richards apartment after the fight to get the weapon analyzed and were now sitting at his kitchen counter. Richard had seemed surprised to see them at first, but then he'd seen the blisters on Red's hand and practically flown for his first aid kit.

"Powerful stuff that, huh?" The man looked up from the telescope and took a sip of his hot coco. "Do you have anymore?"

"Ya think we can make an infusion?" Red asked Tucker with a smirk. "It'd be like that Foley stuff ya used to get rid of Spectra's bugs, only a hundred times better."

"A little pollen made the Fright Knight run away screaming, imagine what it'll do to another ghost." Danny rubbed his hands together, a grin on his face.

"Or to you in your ghost form, Red too." Sam said, and the grin melted off Danny's face.

"You'll be fine if you transform fast enough." Red shrugged. "I won't be sticking around to get shot. It's perfect to give you guys an edge when Sir Pumpkin shows up again."

"Wait, you think he's coming back?" Tucker asked, clutching the warm mug tightly. "Aw man, he's gonna kill me for that."

"Don't sweat it Tuck. Next time, we'll be ready for him." Danny said confidently.

They all would have felt much more reassured if the halfa's mouth hadn't been covered in whipped cream.

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Sam, Tucker, and Danny had spent the rest of the day harvesting flowers in her garden. The techno geek still had all of the equipment he'd used in his previous attempt at making his own cologne, and within a few hours of starting, they had enough of the bright red liquid to fill one of the blasters.

Jason got a text informing him that they'd finished their task while he was slouched on the sofa, eating take out curry dinner back at Dicks apartment. Holding one of those flowers for a few seconds had hurt like he'd been holding his hand over an open flame, and there was no way he was putting himself near it if he didn't have to.

He was just about to get up and head to Tucker's place for a strategy meeting when Dick stopped him.

"They still don't know." The acrobat said, not taking his eyes off the corny rom-com on the T.V. "Jason, the longer you wait…"

"I know." Jason cut in, and settled himself back onto the lumpy cushions. "I just…" He licked his lips, the tightness in his chest that he'd been pushing away all day hitting him. "This thing doesn't fell right."

"What doesn't feel right?" Dick asked, his expressive eyes doing nothing to hide his anxiety.

Jason immediately pushed the tightness away, whatever happened he wouldn't make Dick put up with another if his breakdowns. Seeing his brother – man it felt weird to really think of Dick as that – near tears after Jason's last panic attack had been hard. Before that he'd never really thought about how much Dick was going through trying to help him. The boy had been so wrapped up in his own problems that he hadn't noticed how much he'd been hurting all of them.

He gave Dick his best grin and stood again. "It's nothing, I'm just worried they make a dumb mistake if I tell them before we deal with this guy. They're just kids, ya know."

"Sure Little Wing." Dick looked a little more relaxed, but Jason could still see the signs of stress peeking through. "You call if it's too much, got it?."

"Got it, Bro." Jason saluted sloppily, embracing the warm feeling that fell over him. He really had a brother, family, someone that was waiting for him when he got back from fighting off a ghost with his own friends that were waiting for him to meet up with them. After a moment he had a name for the feeling, excitement. He was excited to see his friends, but he was also excited to get back home and see the rest of his family.

As he waved his indecision drifted away. As soon as they had this next freak back where he belonged, Jason would tell them all that he'd be going home soon.

"Be careful!" Dick called after him as he ran down the hall. Jason laughed, he didn't need to be careful, it felt like nothing could hurt him, not even that little ball of tightness that was still nestled in his chest.

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When the Fright Knight appeared again it was near the end of another perfect, sunny day. This time, Danny was more than ready from him, summer was short enough without having to wait all day for a ghost to show up and ruin it. They'd all been hanging around near the center of town, as soon as the sky began to darken, Danny had gone ghost and shot off for the bright column of light.

The Fright Knight didn't waste any time in going after him, swooping down on Knightmare, sword ready to take a swing at the nimble halfa. Danny ducked under the blade, and put some distance between hi, and the ghost. He fired off a few ecto-blasts, they didn't do much harm, but that wasn't really the point. Getting hit by that sword would put him out of the fight right away, and he couldn't let that happen.

One of his shots got Fright Knight right in the face and the enraged ghost charged forward with even greater speed.

"Whoa, someone woke up on the wrong side of the Soul Shredder."Danny chuckled and dove out of the way, using a road sign as a temporary shield. The hero took a chance and looked down at the street, almost all of the civilians had been evacuated and Red was busily spreading pumpkins all around the area. The boy caught Danny looking and held up a hand in an okay sign while he set down the last vegetable.

Danny grinned and pulled up more power from his core. With everyone gone he didn't have to worry about innocent people being caught in the crossfire. He aimed for the sword now, his bright green shots lighting up the dark sky. Not many of his ecto-blasts hit their mark, but those that did jolted the sword just a little in its master's hold.

"You will feel the sting of the Soul Shredder before the night is through, boy!" The Fight Knight called out and lunged at the halfa.

"Knife tag." A blade flew through the air, making a scratch on the helmet before spinning back to its thrower. Red caught the blade and waved at the ghost with a cheeky grin on his masked face "You're it ya pansy tin can!" Red yelled and flipped off the roof, disappearing into a shadowy alley.

The spirit of Halloween let out a roar and charged after the boy, Danny close behind. Just when he caught sight of Tuckers Red beret Danny fired off another ecto-blast, hitting the ghost from behind. Fright Knight spun to face the halfa, Tucker leaped out of hiding, his water blaster ready. The ghost was doused from behind with the bright red extract and screamed, dropping to his knees with a loud clank. Danny hadn't been hit by even a drop of the stuff and it still made him feel queasy. He pushed the feeling down away and swooped down to collect the sword.

"No!" The Fright Knight screamed and leaped to his feet, sword swinging at Danny.

Danny didn't see it coming in time. Red appeared in the blades path, both hands held out in front of him. The Soul Shredder crashed down on a red shield of ecto-energy, shattering the construct like glass. Red was flung back into Danny and both boys were knocked right out of the alley.

Tucker let loose another stream of water and Fright Knight dropped his sword. Sam ducked out from her hiding place behind a few trashcans near the mouth of the alley and grabbed hold of the sword. The By the time the Fright Knight noticed, Sam had already shoved the sword into the nearest pumpkin.

Both the sword and the pumpkin began glowing radiantly, the vegetable shifting into something eerie. Flashed of green lighting struck all around her and Sam rushed over to where Danny and Red were busy disentangling themselves. In the sky the clouds began spinning in the opposite direction and a strong wind picked up, pulling them all towards where the screaming Fright Knight was trying to dislodge his sword.

Danny tackled both Sam and Red into the nearest building, then reached through the wall to pull Tucker in as well. Through a busted window they witnessed the ghost front raging outside, pulling up all of the ecto-energy that had been saturating the city. Even from their shelter the wind was loud, they all crouched down and tried to block out the piercing sound by covering their ears while they watched it until it died out.

After a few minutes the dazed teens stumbled back outside and looked up at the clear, star speckled night sky.

"That's what he gets for showing up four months early." Sam breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Don't think I'm gonna make it to your Halloween part this year Sam." Tucker said.

"Hey at least this time it wasn't my fault." Danny looked around at the damage caused by the powerful ghost. There were pumpkins and formerly possessed items littering streets filled with the wreckages of thankfully empty cars and fallen road signs. "We'd better get out of here before any ghost hunters come by." He shifted back to his human form.

He was surprised Valery hadn't shown up for such a big ghost fight, but he reasoned that there had been plenty of ghostly items for her to deal with. Still, he wanted to get out before she had the chance to mess with his friends again.

"Red? Man are you okay?" Tuckers voice drifted through Danny's thoughts and the halfa turned his attention to the other boys.

Red was leaning heavily against a wall holding onto with one hand, the other pressed against his eyes while he muttered incomprehensibly, his feet dropped out from under him and he fell to the ground.

"Red!" The other teens rushed over to him.

Tucker, bent down to help his friend to his feet, while Sam hurriedly dialed a number on her phone. Danny felt something wrong shifting through the previously clear atmosphere. A black van drove up the cluttered street, momentarily distracting Danny from his friend and in that moment Red struck.

His arm shot out fast as lightning, and before anyone could stop it his hand was wrapped tightly around Tuckers throat. Danny rushed forward to pull them apart, but Red pushed Tucker away and scrambled back. Red's darker locks of hair all shifted back to white as his breathing quickened.

"This isn't about the water fight, right?" Tucker said as he and Danny cautiously approached.

"Here's Richard." Sam was at his side, her cell phone pressed against his ear.

The van got closer and Red's mouth opened and closed like he was struggling to form words. Danny could just barely hear Richard's worried voice coming through the receiver. The van got closer and a pained groan escaped the boy's mouth.

Danny didn't want to take his eyes off his friend, but the van pulled up next to them. For some reason he didn't think it was just some concerned passerby. As he watched, a patch of swirling green formed in front of the van. Danny leaped between it and his friends as Red finally began to make sense.

"…B, need to get B, need to get B..." The boy was repeating over and over into the receiver.

The van door slid open and a familiar bald headed man stepped out just as the ghost portal finished forming. Red dropped the cell phone and stood up, his distressed face now completely blank. Even without seeing his eyes Danny knew what they were fixed on.

Freakshow waved his staff and Red's head followed the swirling green gem affixed to its top.

"Come now." The man said in a whisper.

Red took a step forward and Danny's hand shot out to grab hold of his friend. With one last grief stricken look at the halfa Red turned intangible and grabbed hold of Freakshow before he was sucked into the portal.

A second later and the portal closed in on itself. Richard's voice was still crackling out of the discarded cell phone.

Red was gone.


	34. Chapter 34

Shrouded in fog and shadow, slick with the almost perpetual rain falling from clouded sky. A heist was going down, but in a city known for its obscenely high crime rate, that was nothing new. To the men speeding through those slick streets, there was something that was decidedly all too new.

Getting caught by Batman was a risk every crook took, some had been lucky enough to never see the masked vigilante even once, while others told of multiple encounters. Tommy was in the later group, and never, in all his years of running from the Bat had he been pursued with such ferocity. The added panic pushed his crew to move even faster than they would have normally, and with every second they felt the Bat's anger increase.

They reasoned that whatever they'd lifted from that showy museum had to have been way more important than they'd first thought. Someone had gotten the bright idea of pulling over and letting the loot go, maybe it wasn't worth all the trouble. No one listened when Tommy told them what a bad idea that was and he was left to sprint through the dark alleys in soaking wet sneakers accompanied by the sounds of his crew's screams.

The bat was getting closer and Tommy's lungs were heaving. The screams stopped and he risked a look back. Empty, not even a sign of the idiots he'd been running with. He turned and crashed into wall that definitely hadn't been there before, bouncing off the hard structure and ending up falling on his ass in a puddle of filthy water.

His curse died on his lips when looked up at the figure looming over him.

"Batman." He whimpered, scurrying back fearfully from the fury evident on its face. The bat stepped closer, and Tommy's screams echoed down the alley.

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Batman raced back to the cave at a speed that for anyone else would have been suicidal. Most of the criminals in Gotham had taken the hint to lay low when the hospital had gotten an influx of broken bones and concussions, but there would always be the few that though they could do what they would be the exception.

He had more important things to be doing than tracking down stolen paintings, no matter how much they were worth. If the things hadn't been for a charity auction he would have left them to disappear into the black market. A signal in morse had been beeping in his ear for the past ten minutes, the one signal he'd been hoping he wouldn't have to hear before Nightwing had brought his Robin back from that radioactive world.

The young boy in the Batcave almost fell of his chair when the batmobile tore into the parking bay. The man pushed down the brief flare of irritation at the boy's presence and accepted steaming mug of coffee from Alfred. This wasn't the time or place to have a civilian child underfoot.

"I assumed you'd prefer for preparations for your departure to be underway when you returned, sir." The butler said, tucking the silver tray under his arms and waving a hand at the metallic suit charging powering up near the large clear tube.

"How long before Barbara is available to operate the transporter?" Bruce pulled off the cowl, marginally less comfortable doing so with the boy in the cave, even if his secret identity wasn't much of a secret right then.

"A matter of hours." Alfred said, his shaking hands betraying what his face didn't.

A few hours might not be soon enough. Bruce had been only seconds too late last time, and he was all too aware of the fact that every single one was precious. Just a few seconds more and he would have been caught in that energy explosion along with Jason, his son wouldn't have been blown to another world all by himself.

"I could do it." The boy said, holding a pile of calculations against his chest. He barely flinched at the hard look Bruce directed his way. "I've been reading through the blueprints, I know I can send you through." His icy-blue eyes shone with determination, so much those of two other young boys, boys that shouldn't have been drawn into the world of capes and masks.

"You're sure you're as smart as you say you are?"

The boy, who was already as involved as anyone the moment he'd stepped in to offer his help, nodded solemnly.

Bruce turned to finish preparations on the suit. "Alfred, fetch the energy cores." He didn't look at the boy who he knew was still watching him with wide, hopeful eyes. "Tim will handle the power up sequence."

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Days in Amity park often involved screaming, but it was always more of an, 'Aahhh ghosts are throwing food around!' type of thing, not an, 'Aahhh the bank just exploded!' kind of thing.

As Danny watched caught the live broadcast from where he was busy getting the last few people out of a burning building, with the knowledge that he'd never make it to the bank in time, he felt fury burning his icy blood. There was no need for so much damage, not when any ghost could practically just walk into the bank and take whatever they wanted.

He placed a little girl on the ground next to her terrified parents and flew back into the burning building to make sure there was no one else stuck inside.

His own parents were chasing down the ghosts that had started the fire, and judging by the screams he heard when he touched down a few blocks away, Jack and Maddie Fenton were winning.

In just a few days, there had been more ghost related damage than the last couple of months put together. Instead of dealing with the ghosts doing the damage, all of Danny's attention was focused on making sure nobody was seriously hurt during any of them. He'd spent more consecutive hours in his ghost form than he had since he was the one under Freakshow's control.

Just when the thought entered his mind to go home and maybe take a little nap, his communicator started beeping.

"Yeah?" He asked tiredly, closing his eyes and leaning heavily against the wall.

"You have to get to the bank." Sam's voice was breathy, like she was running.

"Now?" Danny groaned, but took off anyway. He spotted the smoking building from the air, the streets around it were clear but for the few people running away from it.

"Red's in there." She said. "Tucker and I are on our way."

Danny charged towards the building, not letting the huge amount of smoke slow him down. He was going to tell Sam to stay away when the outstretched arm holding the communicator crashed into a barrier, followed by the rest of the halfa. Danny was bounced back but went intangible fast enough to avoid crashing into the ground.

"Hahahahaha."

Danny brushed aside the trickle of ectoplasm escaping his nose and looked up for the source of the mocking laughter.

Dressed fully in his black and white clown costume, Red smirked down at the hero from the roof of the building.

"You need to be more careful, boss." He took of his hat and tossed it at Danny, the twisted smirk still on his face, and the hero knew that behind the domino mask, blood red eyes would be looking down at him.

Danny caught the hat and used it to wipe away the rest of the blood. His eyes zeroed in on his friends other hand where a thin trail of smoke curled up to mix with that in the air.

"Smoking ruins you lungs, Red." Danny said, spying his communicator lying just on the other side of the ghost shield he'd crashed into, he waved a hand at the bank, the exact same one Freakshow had made him rob last time. "Nice to see Freakshow has no new tricks."

"Why get new one's when the old ones work so well." Red dropped the cigarette, it's glowing tip catching the other boy's eye as it disappeared into the thick smoke.

Danny had to leap out of the way when Red flipped off the building and almost planted his bell-topped shoe on the halfa's face. There wasn't much time to react before Danny had to duck out of reach of one of Red's knives, and even less when the other had came up with another knife. Red got a weaker ecto-blast to his face when and staggered back, giving Danny enough time to get into the air, just out of Red's reach. He shot off some more blasts, keeping his friend from scaling the buildings to reach his level.

Red, dodged most of the blasts, and got a grip on a street light to swing up at the hero, but was knocked back by a powerful ecto-blast to his chest. He was hit back to the ground, smashing the windscreen of a car unlucky enough to be parked there. Danny felt for the strap of the Fenton thermos, and Red went intangible as he stood, letting pieces glass fall chime to the ground around him.

"Freaking dejavu, Boss?" Red smirked, a blade flying from his hands and knocking the thermos out of Danny's hand. "Keep your darn pokeball out of it, huh?" His face went lax, and then scrunched up as he tugged at his hair. "Wanna run while you're at it?" Red took a step back and spread out his arms, as if daring Danny to attack. "Damn head gonna… this is gonna freaking suck."

"You're fighting it Red, you can do it." Danny reached out for his friends. "You're too tough to let that freak hold onto you."

"Yeah sure." Red took a step back, spreading out his arms, but keeping his head bent low. "Unlike Freakshow I do have a new trick, wanna see?" His voice sounded weird, the wavering offsetting what should have been confidence. "Follow me." A glowing green ghost portal swirled to life behind him and he stepped back again, tipping over and falling into the other side.

"Don't!" Danny charged forward catching sight of his friend, already miles down and still falling. Red couldn't fly, he was falling through the Ghost Zone on his own and he couldn't fly. Why would Freakshow tell him to do that? A hand grabbed the back of Danny's jumpsuit and pulled him away from the portal, tossing him across the street. The portal was already closing and the hero launched himself at it, but he was tossed aside again.

"You really are a naïve kid." Richard said, his eyes harder than Danny had ever seen them. He stood in front of the portal, blocking the hero's path as it swirled into nothing.

Danny felt the strength seeping from his limb, his panic giving way to shock, then anger.

"How could you do that?" He swung his fist at the man, but it didn't connect, so he tried again, again, Richard deftly ducking out of the way of each blow.

"How can you not realize how obvious of a trap that was?" Richard asked, sidestepping another sloppy punch.

"Because he's my friend!" Danny said, taking another swing, the only thing keeping him from blasting the guy was the fact that he was Red's brother, and you didn't disintegrate your friend's brothers. "I don't care if it's a trap. Do you even care if your kid brother gets hurt!?"

"He is your friend." Richard said, his featured softened and he held out his hands. "And because he's my brother, I know there's nothing that could hurt him more that being used to hurt one of his friends."

"He can't hurt me." Danny glared at the man, but he did lower his firsts. Red wasn't half as strong as most of the ghosts Danny had fought, he was just a kid that could go intangible and throw up a shield or two. "I can deal with him."

Richard shook his head. "That you ran headfirst into that portal says otherwise. He's trained to fight things stronger that you'll ever be, kid." He settled a hand on Danny's shoulder and bent a little lower. "He knows how you fight, your weaknesses, and he's smart enough to use that against you."

"You're telling me to just leave him?" Danny asked. The image of Red tugging at his hair and telling Danny to run fluttered through his mind.

"I was actually going to tell you to wait for backup." Richard said with a sad smile. "But this all reminded me how much trouble that little brat can be." He looked at the still smoking bank and shook his head like he was thinking about something else completely. "We might not have time to wait." He started walking away.

"We?" Danny asked. "What are you going to do?"

"Get your friends together and I'll come up with something." Richard smiled at Danny over his shoulder. "It'll all work out."

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They couldn't have known when Jason would strike next, but that didn't really matter. He was just bait for the bigger prize that was Danny Phantom. All he had to do was show up and make sure he was seen, he didn't even really have to cause trouble and they'd come after him, the stick of dynamite in his hands was completely unnecessary, but Freakshow wanted trouble.

Just Jason's luck he had to be mind controlled with one of those revenge fueled idiots, it really made his own jokes about being a vengeful ghost seem ridiculous. The building that had been a pristine white just minutes ago was covered in scorch marks while it's agents fired blasters from behind their ghost shield. It kept them safe from the ghosts surrounding them, but…

Too bad for them those things were useless against anything from the real world. He tossed a stick of dynamite into a broken window and watched half a dozen agents run out dive out of all the other windows before the explosion knocked them all off their feet. They landed in a pile, like a bag of upturned marshmallows, and they tripped each other up trying to get to their feet and away from the blob monster that tried to drag them off.

Jason laughed at the fear and confusion on their faces, doubling over and clutching his sides. What kind of government agency only had a defense against one type of enemy? They were setting up some machine on the roof, but Jason chose not to notice it and lit another stick of dynamite.

The explosive was knocked into the sky almost as soon as it left his fingers and the resulting BOOM packed much less of a punch when it went off in the sky with nothing to blow up. Jason watched it go off, then turned to the frowning halfa hovering between him and the agents of the roof.

"Crap." Jason said, an unwanted smile forming in his lips. "Was really hoping you wouldn't show." His knives were in his hands a second later and he pointed them at the stupid kid that didn't know when to run. "You stood me up Boss." He leaped into the air, using a few ghosts poffs as stepping stones to slash at the halfa.

"I didn't like the venue." Danny quipped, ducking under one knife, but getting a slash on his shoulder from the other. He hissed at the burning pain and a hand clamped over the shallow cut.

An ecto-blast struck Jason's chest, knocking out him out of the sky and forcing the breath from his lungs. He spun and landed on his feet before he caught his breath.

"Not good enough." He charged at the other boy again. Danny's cocky grin infuriating him, the kid really didn't know what he was in for, and the next slash would most likely hit something much worse than an arm if the halfa didn't take the fight seriously, the giant ghost blob turned away from the terrified agents and reached a grabbed at Danny. "Watch out for the other guy!" Jason called out when his instinct to jump between them was over ridden.

Pain stabbed through his head and he grabbed at his hair in a desperate attempt to lesson it. He heard the ghost's screams and Danny's battle cries, but looking up was really too much effort.

"My parents are on their way here." Danny said. "Follow me."

The headache disappeared as soon as Jason began chasing after the halfa. Danny laughed as he flew away from the building, always just out of reach while Jason couldn't fly. At least the kid was running, Jason tossed his last few wingdings at the half ghost, almost sighing in relief when the last one left his fingers.

Jason leaped across the trees to get closer to Danny's level. "You gonna ice me in the woods, Boss?"

"What are we? The mob?" Danny grinned over his shoulder and sped up, leading Jason deeper and deeper into the woods, away from the GIW building and any of the agents.

Jason laughed and sprang off a tree, reaching out a hand to pull Danny out of the sky. There was a headache building up again, nagging him to go faster try harder. He caught a glimpse of red out the corner of his eye and smirked, that would work.

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Danny touched down in a small clearing and turned to face Red. He just stood there with his arms crossed and smirked at the boy chasing him. He crossed his arms and put on his most cocky grin for the boy who stopped at the tree line.

"Come on Red." Danny called, making a come-hither gesture. "What are you waiting for?"

Doing their best to keep hidden, Sam and Tucker held ghost shields behind the trees. Red looked at Danny for a moment then tensed up and shot forward, but couldn't escape the shields that sprung out from the trees on either side of him. He tried to push them away, but his arms were crushed to his sides. He screamed as he struggled to free himself, and Danny had to keep himself from telling them to let him go.

Richard slipped out of the shadows, the Fenton thermos in his hand and Red forced out a shield of his own, wedging it between him and the other shields, he pushed them less than an inch apart, but it was enough to get out from between them and drop to the ground. He struck out with a kick at his brother's hand, but Richard just ducked out of the way and retaliated with a palm strike to Red's head. Red went down, and let the fall carry him into a role to put as much distance between them as he could.

"Your friend'll go easy on you Red." Dick said the name like it was a taunt, and the boy tried to knock the thermos out of his hand again, but was kicked back to the edge of the barrier. "You know I won't." Richard settled into a fighting stance, the thermos in one hand and an electrified stick in the other. "Now would be a good time to fight that control."

Richard activated the thermos and covered the distance between them in less than a second. Red dodged the containment device, but ran right into the weapon. His screams filled the forest, and Danny was about to fly over the ghost shield when his friend pushed away and stumbled back from his brother.

"Bastard." He said, eyes flickering again to the tree line as the shield he was leaning against started jerked forward, knocking him back to the ground again. In the second it took for him to get back to his feet he already felt the pull of the thermos. In the second it took him to get back to his feet the thermos was trained on him again. "Stop it!" Red charged at his brother and ducked behind the man, out of the thermos's path. "I need to get back to the Ghost…!" He was struck by the electric weapon again and another pained scream tore itself from his throat.

Danny rushed forward, he didn't want his friend screaming in pain, even if it was to save him, there had to be a less painful way of doing it. A blur swept by, pulling Red off the ground and carrying the ghost off past the trees. The halfa rushed after them, catching sight of them before they disappeared beneath the treetops.

"Valery!" He called, but she just sped up. He got close enough that he heard the girl talking, but not what she was saying. Red's arms were wrapped tightly around her waist, his head buried in her armored shoulder. The last time they'd been together, Red had been kidnapped by Vlad, Danny didn't know where she was trying to take him this time, but he wasn't going to risk it. His friends and Red's brother were following not far behind when caught up to her.

"Get away from him!" She spun around and fired her ecto-blaster at him while Red fell to his knees on the leafy ground behind her. "I won't let you hurt him anymore!"

"Us?!" Danny stepped forward, fists clenched at his sides so tightly they hurt. "You don't know what you're doing!"

They didn't see Red's hands slipping behind his back.

"I know what I saw." Valery countered. "He trusts you, and you're just as bad Masters!" Her voice cracked as she glared at the halfa and squeezed the trigger again, when Danny tried to get closer, hitting him just under the burning cut left behind by Red's knife.

"We have to stop him before he does something that hurts him even more!"

She didn't see Red floating off the ground, his feet coming to a stop just above the ground while he hovered behind her.

"It didn't hurt that much Val." Red said, his face twisted into something between a smirk and a grimace. "I just wanted to get your attention." He moved as if he was going to hug her, but pushed her roughly away instead, revealing the weapon he now held in his hand. "Thanks for the help."

Sam and Tucker broke through the tree line, ghost shields ready to contain Red again. There were two loud BANGs and the devices were laying in pieces on the ground. Sam's violet eyes were wide as saucers as she gaped at the thin trail of smoke drifting up from the muzzle of the gun in her friend's hand.

"You said you lost it." She whispered.

Red's didn't even look her way, holding the gun steadily, keeping it fixed on Danny. "Stop me." He said softly, the cracking of his voice the only outward show of emotion while he jacked the weapon. "Please."

Danny hesitated just a second too long. Red pulled the trigger and a loud another loud BANG cut through the quiet forest. There wasn't any pain, and Danny was lying on the ground, sharp twigs and rocks digging into his face.

"These are your friends Little Wing." Richard was kneeling on the ground in front of Danny. "You don't want to hurt them, remember." A trickle of blood slipped out of his mouth.

Red screamed.


	35. Chapter 35

Danny had never been in that position before.

He sat in his ghost form – only family they'd said, so he'd had to sneak in – in an uncomfortable plastic chair, listening to the soft 'beep, beep, beep' of the machine to his right. There wasn't any family, not yet, so he'd have to do.

The worst thing he'd ever gone a hospital before in his entire life was that one time Tucker had broken his leg. Never, had he ever thought he'd be sitting at the bedside of someone who'd been shot. There was no one else to sit there, no family but the boy whose heartbroken screams were still echoing through his head, so Danny had to be there in his place.

'Beep, beep, beep.'

He was sure he'd never get that sound out of his head by the time this was all over. In the waiting room just down the hall, Sam and Tucker were waiting for some news on whether the man would get better or worse.

Richard was almost as pale as the sheets he was tucked under; wires hooked him up to the I.V and heart monitor and a whole lot of other things that Danny didn't even know the purpose of. He didn't know how bad it was, because the doctors wouldn't tell them anything, and now police were looking for Red who they'd listed as missing.

The whole thing was a mess, and Danny didn't know how to deal with all of it. Ghost hunting was easy, hospitals and police weren't even a factor unless you counted Spectra and Walker – Danny didn't count them.

Richard took a deep, shuddering breath and Danny slowly moved closer to the man.

"Richard?" Danny kept his voice low to keep the nurse loitering out the door from seeing it.

"Hey kiddo." Richard said just as softly, he waved his fingers, shooing Danny out the door before reaching for a button next to his bed.

The halfa turned invisible and watched the nurse hurry into the room. He was just out the door when he heard Richard asking about the kids who'd been with him.

Danny went back to his human form and went to the waiting room to, well wait with his friends until the doctors were done.

"He woke up." Danny said, plopping onto a seat next to the vending machine Tucker was extracting a couple sodas from. The geek had been eating or drinking something constantly to get his mind off the fact that they were, indeed in a hospital, but he refused to leave.

"How did he look?" Sam was reading through a few pamphlets on infection and medical aids.

"Alive." Danny ran a hand through his already messy hair. He felt like muttering a few curse words, just for the sake of it, he chuckled tiredly, Red really was a bad influence . "I can't believe this happened." He leaned back in the chair, resting his head against the wall and sent a sideways glance at the other person waiting for word of Richard.

Valery sat in a corner, a cup of cooling coffee in her hands while she stared at the clock ticking just above the information desk with red-rimmed eyes. Her cell phone beeped, but she took one look at the screen and put it away again.

"Anyone here for John Reed?" The A nurse ask and all four kids in the room stood up.

Tucker adjusted the strap of his backpack and shot a dirty look at Valery when she got followed along behind them to Richards room, but none of them did anything to stop her. The nurse let all of them into the room and smiled kindly at the man in the bed.

"You know this is against hospital policy." She said, glancing down the hallway.

"Thnks Hanna." Even looking on the edge of death, Richard winked at her. "You're th best"

"The patient still needs rest, so don't excite him." The nurse blushed bright red and ducked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"I feel like I should slap you or something in Red's place." Danny chuckled and sat back in the same uncomfortable chair he'd spent however long in before.

Richard smiled weakly and leaned further into his cushion. "Later, Tucker still have my gear?"

"Yeah, I got it all here." Tucker passed held his backpack out to the injured man. Richard broke in to a coughing fit before he could reach for it, and Tucker quickly stepped aside so Danny could get the glass at his bedside and press it to the man's lips. "Dude, the nurse said you had to take it easy."

Richard took a small sip of the water looked back at the backpack. "Th'rsa screen init, tr'ckr." He slurred. "Find Red."

"What, do you have him micro-chipped or something?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes, then frowning at the his weak smile suspiciously. "Your family is so weird." The goth smirked.

His eyes slipped closed, and his smile melted away. "Sedative." He said, waving a hand at the worried teens. "Wait, backup."

"No way man." Tucker stepped forward and made a cutting motion with his hand. "Who knows what it's doing to Red's head, thinking he killed you."

"Bett'r planis time." Richards breath came out a sigh, then evened out as fell asleep.

Danny pulled the thin hospital blanket more snugly over his friend's brother, his jaw clenching when he saw the bandages cover in Richards chest. The man knew Red better than they did, and he'd wanted them to wait, if Danny had been better at damage control, they could have waited. If he'd gotten the gun fast enough, maybe Red would be safely tucked in the Fenton thermos.

"Freakshow's going to pay for this." Danny said, pulling the chair up closer to the bed and practically falling into it, resting his elbows on the railing while he rested his head in his hands. "I'm going to get Red back and rip that creep apart." He dug his nails so far into his scalp he drew blood.

"Yeah, well just save a piece for the rest of us." Tucker rifled through the backpack and pulled out what looked like a tiny, flat T.V screen, Danny shot him a dark look out the corner of his eye and the geek shrugged. "Not like he'd some powerful ghost, any one of us can take that scrawny freak."

"Freakshow?" Valery asked, and all eyes darted to the corner of the room where she was standing with her arms wrapped around herself. She flinched at the combined strength of their scrutiny before her face hardened and she glared right back. "He's my friend too!" Her fists clenched at her sides.

"We would have had him if it weren't for you." Sam said, pointing a finger right near Valery's face. "You're not getting near him."

"He was my friend when you were still convinced he was a monster." Valery countered.

Sam's face scrunched up, her dark frown falling away. "I never said he was a… a." She turned her head away emotions Danny couldn't place flickering though her violet eyes.

"You didn't have to." Valery stood a little taller. "I don't have to explain myself to any of you, but I will make sure I get the chance to talk to him again, now tell me what's going on."

Danny wanted to deny her request, keep her away from his friend before she could hurt him again, but then he remembered the way Red had held onto her when she'd 'saved' him from Richard. He through that maybe, just maybe that hadn't all been faked, and Red deserved to hear from her what her motivations were for handing him over to Vlad.

Tucker stepped forward to tell her off in Danny's place, but the halfa blocked his friend with one outstretched arm.

"Freakshow's a psycho with a ghost controlling staff." Danny said. "He's made Red do this." He flicked his fingers in Richard's direction.

"But Red's not all ghost." Valery said. "Shouldn't it be a little harder for this 'Freakshow' to control him?"

"And how do you know he's not all ghost?" Sam asked.

"I found a recording at the lab." Valery put one hand in her pocket and scratched at a discolored spot on the wall.

"Yeah, but you're not all ghost either." Tucker frowned at Danny. "He got you before."

"It doesn't make any sense that he didn't try again." Sam sat on the edge of Richard's bed.

"And Red went back to looking like a real ghost right before Freakshow took him." Danny looked over at Richard, who was smirking at them with something that really could have been pride. "Maybe, he can only control full ghosts now, but…" Danny huffed and scratched the back of his head. "It then it still shouldn't have worked", he raked a hand through his hair, "right?"

"Red's not a halfa." Sam lifted a finger to her lips. "He's just a human swimming with ectoplasm, it's why he looked so normal after Vlad got him with the plasmius maximus."

"So, if we used the plasmius maximus on him again, made him less ghost, would he be able to break free?" Valery asked, not meeting any of their eyes again and fiddling with something in her pocket.

"If it didn't, he'd still be easier to grab, maybe shove him in a footlocker till we're done breaking that staff over Freakshow's head." Tucker said, tapping on the screen.

"Red could do with a time out." Danny grinned, smacking a fist into the palm of his other hand, a grin forming on his face. "We just need to get it away from Vlad."

"No you don't." Valery took her hand out of her pocket , and the plasmius maximus was held tightly in her shaky fingers. "Can you find him with that?"

"Am I the most charming guy in this room?" Tucker smirked and made a few more exaggerated taps. "Finding Red'll be easy."

.

.

.

"You know, when you said it would be easy, I was kind of hoping it would be easy!" Sam had a vice grip on her the arm rests of her seat while Tucker swerved the specter speeder out of the giant, fire-breathing dragon's path.

"Hey, I'm not responsible for the ghost fighting, please direct all complaints to your resident super-hero." Tucker shrieked when an island drifted in front of him. They passed right through it and the boy sighed. "Phew, forgot about thaAAHHH." He fired the speeder's ghost-ray at the dragon than popped up in front of them again. The ghost disappeared a second later, replaced by Danny screwing the lid on the thermos.

"How much further is this place?" Valery groused, flying just close enough that her words could reach the halfa.

"Take a look for yourself." Danny slung the thermos over his shoulder and looked at the dark, looming structure visible in the distance. There were ghosts of all shapes and sizes gathered around it, drifting aimlessly in wait for their master's next order. He remembered how that had felt, cold and empty, not even having your thoughts to yourself. He was going to save Red from that, even if he had to break every bone in the other boy's body to do it, Red was tough, he could handle a beating.

Danny and Valery stuck close to the specter speeder while they moved through the crowds of ghosts, muscles tensed and weapons charged, ready for an attack that didn't come. The ghost's actually moved aside for them, looking at the teens passing by with a only a spark of dark emotion in their otherwise lifeless eyes.

The real world vehicle was able to fit through the tight halls by phasing partly through the walls while Danny flew up front and Valery stayed near the back, keeping an eye on ghosts they moved passed.

Freakshow wasn't hard to find, his ghost's were lined up in what was practically a trail of bread crumbs right up to a huge, fancy door. Danny didn't waste any time in throwing them open and all the ghosts in the halls scattered, flying away like leaves being shaken off a tree.

"Phantom."

The huge, ornate throne Freakshow was lounging in was softened by a pile of cushions. The room was the biggest Danny had ever seen, wider than a football field and with a ceiling so tall he could barely make out the decorative symbols scrawled all over it. The space was filled with piles upon piles of money and other valuables, but aside from Freakshow, there was no one else waiting for them.

"Where is he?" Danny did a pretty good job of reigning in his temper and still keeping his eyes on the disgusting man.

Freakshow smirked, an ugly expression that showed just how satisfied he was with the situation. He waved his staff at another, smaller door at the other end of the room. "He?" the man's grin grew even more ugly, and he bent over, starring Danny down with gleaming eyes. "You'll need to be…"

Valery wasn't so good at controlling her temper, and zoomed forward on her hover-board, crashing in into Freakshow and knocking his to the ground. "Play dumb and you'll regret it. Tell us what you did with Red."

"Red?" Freakshow choked out, lifting himself into a sitting position, he made as if he was deep in thought, trying Valery's patience to the point she was visibly shaking before he snapped his fingers and pointing one bony digit at her. "That's what you call that screaming clown? Oh you don't want that broken mess."

Danny had lunged forward and wrapped his hands around the man's neck before he even thought to move, he drew back a fist to pummel the creep into submission, but before he could make contact a pale red ghost shield popped into existence between his fist and Freakshow's face.

"Ya don't wanna do that, Danny." Red was hovering just above the doors they'd come in from, one arm still outstretched from calling up the shield and a dark smirk on his face.

Danny dropped the man and spun along with Valery to look at his friend. He barely took a step forward when Red made a cutting motion with his arm and a trail of red energy shot at the halfa. Danny threw himself out of the way just a little too slow and got a small cut on his cheek.

He got up and back on his feet, coming face to face with a fist already swinging at him. It was too late to dodge, so Danny rolled with the blow, wincing at the pain that exploded behind his nose. Jason made another swing, but was tackled back by Valery.

"Stop it, Red!" She ordered, staring him down.

"But Val." Red struck out with a powerful kick to her torso, knocking her into the far wall . "I thought you hated Phantom, don't you like seeing him bleed?"

"You don't." Valery's visor lifted up and she brushed aside a stream of blood trickling down her chin, flicking it off her fingers.

Red watched the motion closely, eyeing the little splatters of blood that phased through the floor, with a little spark of emotion in his otherwise dead eyes. "I don't have a home anymore." The smirk was back in place and he rushed at her, an arm pulled back for another hit. A blast from the specter speeder knocked him out of the air, and he went rolling across the ground. "Cute." He chuckled, pulling himself up, the his face morphed into fury. "You wanna get shot too?" He tried to rush at the speeder, but was blown back again.

"Don't start with that." Freakshow was back on his throne, waving his staff at the boy. "I don't want another day of screaming to deal with. "Get rid of them!"

Danny blasted Red away from the speeder and his more vulnerable friends before any of them could get hurt.

"Go ahead." Danny taunted ducking under one of Red's punches. "Richard could use some company in the hospital, someone had to keep him from flirting with all the nurses."

"What?" Red paused in his next swing, his fist hovering just in front of Danny's face. "He's…" He groaned and folded in on himself.

"He'd fine, Red." Danny said. "You shouldn't be surprised, seeing as he's 'your' brother."

A light fluttered into existence in Red's eyes, and this time it stayed there. A small, genuine smile worked its way onto his lips. Danny was sure that if he weren't under Freakshow's control, the boy would be laughing.

"No, cop's get sho…" Red's body spasmed and his eyes shot over to Freakshow."

"No more talking!" The man demanded his staff glowing brighter as he waved it, drawing Red's undivided attention. "No misinterpreting orders this time, ghost. I'm not telling you to play with them, or chase them off. I want you to destroy them." Freakshow growled and snapped his fingers.

The huge doors slammed open again with a loud BANG and all the ghosts that had been milling about outside filed into the room. Their screams filled the room, mixing in with Freakshow's laughter. Where there'd once been near silence, now there was so much noise Danny could barely hear himself think. In the middle of all of it, Red hovered stiffly, a drop of stillness in the middle of the chaos.

"You didn't listen before." Red ground the words out through clenched teeth, his hands twitching at his sides. "Listen now, and run."

A second later Danny's face was on the relieving end of another punch. He toppled backwards, almost falling to the ground, a sharp wave of red energy came at him, and left a deep slash in the tiled floor when Danny dodged. Red sent out more of the waved and Danny threw up a shield, to push them back at his friend.

Red twisted and ducked under all of the blasts, coming at Danny again with a ferocity he hadn't seen since their first fight when they'd met so long ago on Skulker's island. Danny dodged one punch and Red followed up with a kick that only glanced Danny's side, but still left him reeling from the pain. He didn't have enough time get his bearings and he threw up a shield to block the next volley of blows that came his way.

Red growled and began pummeling at the shield.

"You can't break through here Red." Danny huffed, Sam and Tucker were edging the speeder closer to Freakshow, maneuvering around ghosts they couldn't blast. Valery was surrounded, and her hover-board was nowhere to be seen. The halfa was left to face his friend alone.

Spider web cracks began forming on Danny's shield and he grunted, pushing it and Red back, then throwing another one around the other boy, giving his time to put some space between them.

"I'm not letting you hurt me Red." Was Danny's only reply to his friend's frustrated screams as he broke down the shield.

"Good!" Red's made more cutting motions with his arms, his red energy shattered the shield and flew at the halfa, followed closely by the other boy.

Danny dodged as best he could and fired off his own ecto-blasts, none od them his their target, but they didn't slow him down, buying Danny a few more seconds before Red crashed into his like a bulldozer. The back of the halfa's head was slammed into the wall, he bit his tongue and the coppery taste of ectoplasm filled him mouth. Red didn't slow down, bashing Danny's head into the wall over and over again.

Each hit was like someone taking a sledgehammer to his brain, leaving holes and filling his skull with fire. When it wasn't stars, Danny felt darkness encroaching on his vision. He blinked away the water filling his eyes and got a glimpse of Red's tear streaked face. Red would never forgive himself, but Danny had lost his chance to run, learned too late that he'd have to fight harder.

'You don't want to hurt your friends Little Wing.'

Danny slammed his own fist into Red's gut, letting loose a full powered ghost-ray and knocking the boy away from him. The reprieve from the pain cleared his mind, if only a little, enough for him to know it was pointless, there wouldn't be any backup.

Danny glided slowly to the ground, and dropped to his knees not far from the circle of ruined tiles his friend had crashed into. Red staggered out of the circle, his feet sliding back with every forward step he took, trying to slow himself down. The cloth around his chest was torn, covered in ectoplasm and ghostly dust from his impact. Richard really hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said his brother was trained to fight things more powerful than Danny. His knees hit the ground a few feet from Danny, and he looked up. Dizzy green eyes met teary red.

Red's hand lifted off the ground slowly, energy crackling at the torn edges of his gloved. He let out a choked sob and drew the hand back, and Danny heard the boy whispering apologies, to his friends, and Richard, and some other people whose names the halfa didn't recognize too. Danny made a weak attempt at being reassuring with a green tinged smile.

He knew what it was like being under Freakshow's control, he didn't blame his friend, not in the least. He wanted to say it, but his tongue was swollen in his mouth and he was too dizzy to force the words out. "'S'okay." Danny slurred. ""S'okay Robin."

Red's hand wavered and his sobs wracked his body, fat tears rolling down his cheeks, mixing with the ectoplasm covering his face and dropping onto the dusty floor. The hand shot forward and Danny squeezed his eyes shut. He had no time for his own apologies.

.

.

.

The Batman sped through the strange green world. He didn't stop to look through the doors, or at the strange creatures floating about. Most things with any awareness to speak of steered clear of the menacing figure, and the few were brave enough to chance it didn't come back to try again, didn't leave their lairs for hours after he'd passed by.

He wouldn't stop for anything, wouldn't add another second on to the time it was already taking to get to the pulsating green dot on his HUD. A few seconds made the difference last time this time would be different. He was getting closer, was already so much closer to his son than he'd been in months and he wouldn't give anything the chance to get in his way when he was so close.

He wouldn't be late again, never ever again.


	36. Chapter 36

Kill it, kill it, kill it.

His hand shot out, fingers encased in tiny ghost shields sharpened to a deadly point. For a second his vision blacked out, then flooded with red.

"Shhh." A gentle voice came in place of the scream he was expecting, Danny reluctantly opened his eyes and saw Jason's energy tipped fingers less than an inch from his face. Between him and his friend was Valery. Her arms wrapped around the boy, holding him tightly and pulling him out of reach of the halfa.

"Please stop me." Jason begged, hearing how broken his voice sounded, but not caring, even as his traitorous hand reached out to end his friend's life. He'd already hurt Dick, and he was close, so very close to hurting the first friend he'd ever had. Even the fog of Freakshow's control couldn't pierce into the agony in Jason's chest that had nothing to do with his burned, bleeding flesh. "Please."

He held onto her, not caring that she'd taken advantage of his trust to hand him over to Vlad Masters. She'd kept him from plunging his hand through Danny's chest, she'd saved his friend's life and he'd never more grateful for anything in his life.

She shushed him and let him cry on her shoulder even though he was covered in ghostly blood and he'd almost shot her. Even though his other hand was reaching up to wrap around her throat. "You have to kill me Valery." He whispered with the last shreds of freewill he had.

"No." She pressed her lips to his forehead and two sharp points dug into the torn flesh at his torso. There was a click and his nerves were on fire. Screams tore themselves from his throat and sharp red energy spun out of him in a frantic last attempt at casing as much damage as possible. The sensation of layers peeling away from him was familiar. Two pairs of arms tried to hold him still while he thrashed around. The hat fell from his head and it's bells sounded a final chime as it hit the ground before dissolving into smoke and dissipating into along with the rest of him.

He didn't know how long it took, but it felt like hours and he was sure he would burn away into nothing. When it was over there were only two arms holding onto him, all of his power was gone, the thin strip of white dangling in front of his face the only sign that he'd ever had any to begin with. Deep breaths of stale air pulled themselves into his lungs and his weak body sagged against the nearest support.

In the time it took him to notice his mind was empty, his body had already given into the compulsion to pull away from Valery, put as much distance between him and all of them as he possibly could. She held him place, his tired muscles incapable of escaping her as she ran a hand through his hair and tucked away the plasmius maximus.

"You can stop fighting now." She said, her voice just loud enough for him to hear. He peeked over her shoulder saw Danny, kneeling in the in the gooey remains of what had once been some of the attacking ghosts. "It's okay to stop fighting now."

"Please tell me that worked." The halfa huffed, wiping away the ectoplasm trailing down from the side of his head.

Jason sighed, relaxing into Valery's hold, he caught sight of the specter speeder blasting a trail through the ghosts enclosing it, Sam hanging out a window with a blaster. Danny was standing in the gooey remains of what could have once been more ghosts.

"The heck did you do?" Jason accepted Danny's hand and let the halfa pull him to his feet, only to be pushed back to the ground, out of the path of a screeching winged ghost that Valery promptly shot down.

"Can we talk about that later?" The huntress asked, taking aim again.

"Catch!" The speeder flew by and Sam dropped two pieces of glinting metal.

Jason held the knives loosely in his hands, looking between the weapons, his friends, and the virtual army Freakshow had under his control. He must have taken too long because Danny nudged him hard enough to put him off balance.

"Are you gonna go nuts on us again?" The halfa asked, a hint of apprehension in his voice.

"Maybe when we get out of this." Jason spun the knives and readied his stance. There'd be time to deal with the fallout when everyone was safe. Until then he'd focus on his mission. The specter speeder positioned itself behind them, Sam and Tucker looking worriedly down at the rest of them. Jason smirked. "You got a plan this time, Boss?"

"Get the staff and break it over Freakshow's head." Danny cracked his knuckles, a grin on his gace and the gash at the side if his head almost healed. "Let's go kick some butt."

.

.

.

It took a few minutes if fighting for Danny to really take note of exactly how many ghosts Freakshow had under his control. He blasted one creepy flying eyeball out of the air and a million more popped up in front of him. They weren't all that strong, but their sheer numbers made Danny worry that he'd tire before Freakshow ran out of minions.

Valery paused in her attacking when she was met by a pack of yapping puppies. "Shoo dogs." She waved her arms. One separated from the pack and chomped down on her foot, she kicked out her leg, dislodging the dog and flinging it away from her. The other dogs were silent for a second, then they growled, the almost cute sound morphing into a loud, vicious snarl when they all turned into huge, slobbering monsters.

Very familiar monster dogs. They were just like the one that had rampaged through Axion labs, costing her father his job. The girl put her blasters away and flexed her fingers, these she'd take care of up close and personal.

Tucker laughed while he steered them through the huge gathering of ghosts, Sam fired a blaster almost as big as her out the window while he used the speeders main ecto-cannon. Who said, you needed ghost powers to put up a fight? The speeder weaved through the tangled body of a huge snake-like ghost. The speeders powerful cannon scorching it's side while they moved.

"You're enjoying this too much!" Sam said, firing one last time before swapping out her spent blaster for a new one. She pulled back its top and caressed the weapon while it powered up, there was a smirk on her face as she blaster a variety of ghosts from the sky.

"You're one to talk." He brought the speeder to an abrupt stop, almost knocking Sam out the widow and making her drop her blaster.

"Tucker!" She complained, pulling herself back inside.

"It's them." The boy pointed, his eyes fixed ahead at the three ghostly vultures approaching. Sam picked up an even bigger weapon from her waiting pile.

She activated it, and like they'd heard the loud clicking the vultures paused in their flying to look at the still speeder. "What are you waiting for?"

"Oh yeah." The geek flicked a switch, turning on the speeders auxiliary power and amping up the cannon. "It's payback time baby." With a gleeful laugh, he threw the speeder into gear and charged at the ghosts. They must have felt the malice coming from the teens, because they screeched and flew the other way, the speeder close behind.

Danny was tossed to the ground by the thrashing of the dragon ghosts he's just beat, and landed in a crouch near Red, who promptly broke into a sneezing fit.

"You can't be getting sick now." Danny groaned, getting a heated glare from his friend.

"That was one time!" Red flicked a bit of green off one of his knives, he ducked under a small blue ghosts and spun around to kick it savagely away from him. "These furry little bastards again." He sneezed as they were surrounded by more of the little rabbit ghosts, and Red sneezed some more.

With cries of "Bunny wraith!" They all hopped at the boys.

"You're all twice as freaking dead!" Red spun his knives and began slashing at the creatures.

Danny kept out of his friend's reach and knocked away some of the ghosts. Something heavy and orange tackled him away from the mound of fuzzy blue, and left him winded on the ground meters away.

Manic laughter filled the air and Danny found himself surrounded by a pack of huge, laughing hyena-like ghosts.

"You guys again, huh?" Flew off the ground and hovered just above them. He didn't see the lughing dig man that had been controlling them before, but they were plenty on their own. The halfa fired of a ghost ray, putting at least three of them out of commission, and inciting the others to leap at him. Danny ducked under them easily. Last time he'd had his friends to protect, now that he didn't have to worry about that he could go all out against the hyenas. He didn't count how any there were exactly, but it only took him a few minutes to move on to the last one. It laughed and charged at him, he threw up a ghost shield, and winced when the hyena crashed into it, laughter cut off by the pained yelp. A ghost ray from each hand was all it took for the ghost to become a few wisps of orange smoke. With any luck it would be a while before he had to deal with them again.

There was a cry of pain and a bull ran by Danny, Reds body flailing in front of its face while he held tightly onto its horns. His knife flashed in his hands and the bull dispersed just in time for Red to be smashed into a wall.

"I'm going on a freaking all meat diet, I swear." Red wiped the ectoplasm covering his hands off on his short cape. "Freaking hate those damn things." He kept muttering curses to himself while kicked off the wall to begin slashing at any ghost stupid enough to get close to him on his path to Freakshow.

Danny followed after his friend, taking out the ghosts higher up while Red beat back any he could reach. The halfa blasted away a few ghosts behind them and almost smashed into a wall of sticky pink when he turned around.

"A memories." Danny knocked away a ghost poff and got closer to Red, who was glaring at the huge bubble-gum blob. "Isn't this the first ghost we all fought together?"

"You sound like Nightwing." Red reached into a pouch on one of his belts and threw some beeping knives at the ghost. They buried deep into the ghosts and exploded, sending globs of sticky pink candy all over the place, he tossed some pellets at the splattered remains and they froze over, covering the ground in ice crystals.

"You've forgotten about me so soon?" Skulker asked with a sadistic grin. "I remember beating you whelps long before you left the Ghost Zone."

"I could do with a rematch." Red brandished his knives, even hidden behind his mask, Danny could still feel the boy's cold glare.

Valery brought her hover board close by. "Oh, this is one I definitely want a piece of." The girl said.

"Get him!" Danny was just about to blast the ghosts when Skulker's body started spazzing out. His robotic limbs flailing and spinning at the joints. Smoke streamed from behind the metal plates and his suit exploded, flinging his head clear to the other side of the huge room.

"Who's the real master of technology?!" Tucker cried gleefully and waved his tricked out PDa before planting a sloppy kiss on its screen and laughing.

"Go Tucker." Danny grinned and waved at the passing speeder, Sam, still handing out the window, waved back and kept shooting at any ghost she got in her sights.

They were close enough now that they could hear Freakshow's ranting, and somewhere in the distance there was a loud explosion.

"You're already too late!" Freakshow waved his staff around, a small cloud of ghost-bugs flowing along with the glowing orb at its end. "There's no way a group of children will be able to stop the next ghost I bring under my control!"

"After this you'll be lucky if you can talk at all after this." The girl said, standing in front of the man and keeping him from running hold of the man. "You wanna do the honors, Red?" She cocked her head at the boy.

"Sure." Red drew back his fist and crashed it into Freakshow's face. There was a cracking sound and blood dribbled down from the man's now misshapen nose. Red grabbed a fist full of the material at the front of Freakshow's and took another swing at him, but the boy's face scrunched up before the blow landed. He looked at the blood on his glove, and behind the mask he squeezed his eyes shut. Strangled sobs were coming from Freakshow, and slowly, in small twitches, Red's fist loosened.

He loosened his hold on Freakshow and the man dropped to the ground in a pathetic heap. Red tugged the staff away and tossed it over to Valery, his own arms dropping to his sides. "He can't do anything without this."

"Red?" Valery frowned at the boy, and Red shrugged nonchalantly, but Danny knew the tense set of his friend's shoulders meant Red was anything but calm.

Danny nodded at Valery's questioning look. If Red wanted to let Freakshow off easy for now, Danny would let him. With a grunt, Valery swung the staff at the throne, cracking the glowing orb against its side. Freakshow's screams were almost drowned out by those of the ghosts as they escaped, while Valery kept smashing his source of power.

The scrawny man tried to stop her, but it was surprisingly easy for Danny to hold him back.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Freakshow cried with honest to goodness tears in his eyes.

"We're kicking your pasty butt." Danny said. With one last swing the staff was shattered, pieces of swirly green gemstone flying breaking apart in a brilliant flash of light. Danny had to turn away to shield his eyes from it.

"Freaking heck that's bright as all heck."

Danny chuckled when Red let out a string of curses and peeled back his domino mask to rub his eyes.

Tiny pieces of the staff began falling back to the ground, and Sam, still leaning out of the speeder reached out a hand to catch some of the sparkling stones. Danny brushed some of the pieces off of his shoulders.

"Man am I glad that's over." Danny sighed and looked down at the sniveling Freakshow. "Let's get outta here guys." He waved his arm at the door and bent to pick the man off the ground and drag him back to the human world.

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure, Daniel."

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Vlad smirked, he hovered near the ceiling, a fiery crown resting on his head. Jason would have made a comment on the accessory, but Didn't get the chance before Vlad was talking again. "And, you have my thanks for saving me the trouble distracting this nuisance. However, I do believe a more permanent solution will be in order" He waved his hand and a ghost-ray was aimed at Freakshow.

"What are you doing?" Freakshow cried. "We're partners, you said we'd take over together, you need me, you can't…!" The man was blasted right out of the huge double doors, his screams cut off abruptly, whatever happened to the man, Jason was glad they didn't have to see it. So much for sparing the guy.

"Masters!" Valery growled and charged at her former employer.

The man frowned and the instant red energy crackled at the man's hand Jason leaped between it and Valery, a ghost ray sending them both skidding across the ectoplasm-stained ground. Without the ghostly energy to throw up a shield, he had to take the blast head on, and pain flooded his system, blanking out his vision and bringing it back just in time for his to watch the ceiling collapsing on top of him. He instinctively pulled Valery under him and lifted his heavy duty cape over their heads to shield them from the falling stone. He had to bite his lips to keep from crying out when the heavy debris crashed into his legs though.

"That's a shame." He heard Vlad cackling overhead, and Danny's battle cry as the younger halfa charged at him.

"Red?" Valery coughed, her dirty face barely visible with the few cracks of light that made it through. "Are you okay?"

"Sure." He shifted under the heavy weight, but there was no way they'd be able to dig their way out in time to help Danny. "Damnit." He swore when he felt blood trickling down one of his legs, his circulation was too cut off for him to really feel how bad the cut was, but with all the pressure against the rocks, it wasn't good.

The sounds of a battle above them grew more intense and Jason struggled to free one of his limbs so he could at least attempt to get out from under the heavy rock. The pressure on his legs increase, and he was torn between cursing the stupidity of digging survivors out of rubble when you didn't know what you were doing, and crying in gratitude at the scraping sounds coming from somewhere above him.

A metal claw broke through the rubble, hitting his back hard enough that he was sure he'd be sporting some serious bruising in a few hours, but he gripped it tightly with his now free hand, the other still wrapped around Valery. The gash on his leg was torn further on the sharp rocks while they were pulled out, but when caught sight of the speeder, he was just about ready to hug Sam and Tucker to death.

Vlad spun around from where he'd just sent his opponent careening into the ground and fires double ghost-rays at the speeder. The claw, along with Valery was torn out of Jason's gripped, jarring his shoulders painfully.

"Leave them out of this!" Danny slammed into a ghost shield while Vlad moved closer to where the smoking speeder had crashed.

"Freaking creep." Jason picked up biggest rock within reach and tossed it at the man. It hit the back of the man's head and he spun around to glare at the culprit. "You get a kick outta beating kids, huh?" The boy pulled himself to his feet, biting back a scream when he put weight on his injured leg. Yup, that was stitches at the very least. "Ya know there's a word for nut-cases like you."

The man growled and charged at Jason, who threw down a handful of smoke pellets and dove out of the way. He rolled down the pile of rubble, and this time he did cry out at the pain the uneven surface coughed his leg. Vlad appeared through the smoke one hand reaching out to clamp around the boy's throat and pull him into the air.

"What was that, you cretin?" Vlad demanded, tightening his hold on Jason's windpipe. The only sounds Jason could force out of his throat were garbled nonsense and the man smirked in victory.

Jason got another handful of pellets and slammed them into the man's chest. Vlad coughed, and flung Jason around in his haste to escape the acrid smoke, but didn't let go.

"I said you're a sadistic, cowardly, ugly as sin, creep that shouldn't be allowed near children." Jason choked out. "I'd go on, but there are some words I won't say in front of children." The words were barely audible, but judging by the snarl on the man's face, Masters got the message.

The hand around Jason's throat tightened again and Vlad turned to the younger halfa, a twisted smirk on his face. "Really Daniel." He chuckled darkly. "This is the company you keep now?' His fingers were digging painfully into Jason's throat when he held the boy up to the halfa trapped behind the shield. "I'll offer you one last chance to join me, and I might consider sparing your family, along with the creatures you claim as friends."

"As if you couldn't be more of a fruitloop." Danny growled, bashing his fists at the shield.

"You're sure about that, Daniel?" Electricity coursed through Jason's body, drawing a choked scream from his constricted throat and a curse from Danny's. Wow, Jason would have chuckled at his friend's language if he could have, he really was a bad influence. "And what does your friend think of the suffering he'll endure for your insolence?" He released his hold just enough for Jason to speak.

"I think you're freaking stupid, and you should take the Boss's suggestion to go fuAAAAAHHH." Jason screamed as his muscles contracted at the higher voltage of electricity that was Vlad's retribution. Danny's eyes were widened in horror, and he redoubled his efforts at breaking through the shield.

"You're a spunky one, aren't you." Vlad hissed in Jason's ear. "Maybe I'll keep you around, there are more relics that can take hold of a ghost's mind, many more powerful than anything I'd let Freakshow get his hands on. With some reconditioning, you may make a good attack dog."

Jason, raised one arm high enough that it was level with Vlad's face and lifted one finger in a rude gesture, a painful chuckle escaping his lips at the man's outraged snarl. The shield encasing Danny cracked, and the halfa screamed at his friends to stop antagonizing Vlad.

"On second thought." Vlad's free hand and Jason almost agreed with Danny that maybe he'd gone a bit too far, or maybe he hadn't gone far enough. "That mouth of yours just sealed your fate." Both hands were now wrapped around Jason's throat, twice the amount of energy overloading his system.

If he screamed, he wasn't aware of it, he didn't hear Danny's cries for Vlad to stop, or the rest of his friends hitting the older halfa with all the firepower they had. All he knew was that the pain was the second worse he'd ever felt in his life, they it was all gone, and he was flung out of Vlad's hold and into three pairs of waiting arms below.

Sam, Tucker and Valery collapsed under his weight, but they did break his fall, and he was too grateful that there was no more pain to be overly guilty about that. He rolled off them and onto his back, sucking in deep lungfuls of air, every constriction of his throat hurt like heck, but it was so much better than being freaking strangled and electrocuted. It didn't keep his vision from fritzing out on him though, and when a huge black figure appeared in front of him he was sure the grim reaper was paying him back for whatever had cheated him out of Jason's death.

He was about to sink into blissful oblivion when he heard a voice, the last voice he would have expected to ever hear again.

"On your feet soldier, the wars not over."

Like magic Jason's eyes shot open, taking in the huge man facing down Vlad like the halfa was just another scumbag crawling out of the gutters of Gotham city. When the whited out lenses of the shimmering, black metallic cowl turned to Jason, he was sure it wouldn't have made any difference if Vlad really was a scrawny bank robber, or even Superman himself.

The Batman's shimmering cape fluttered and Jason was left breathless in his wake.


	37. Chapter 37

He was there, he stood right in front of Jason, then darkness encroached on the boys vision, and by the time he blinked it away his mentor was gone. Hands wrapped around him, dragging him across the ruined throne room, bells chimed in his ears and a quick glance at his feet revealed their source. Those stupid bell tipped pixie shoes were back.

There were voices yelling now, as they dragged him onwards. The swirly green of the Ghost Zone was replaced by the dented metal of the speeder. His head was pounding, and trying to open his eyes was like shoving knives into his brain on top of that, but he had to, he had to see what was going on, get to Bruce.

The voices became distinct, Sam yelling about a hospital while frantically trying to wrap up his bleeding… ectoplasming?... leg over the black fabric and for a second all he could think about was how glad he was that black didn't stain as badly as green and he wouldn't have to look at Alfred's disappointed frown when he got back.

"There has to be a way to get this piece of junk moving." Sam said, the sentence coming out just a little too fast.

"Don't listen to her baby, you did great." Tucker was messing with the wires in the console. "All I can do from in here is get the shield working."

Jason tried to get up, forcing his limbs to move how he wanted instead of contracting on their own from the after effects of the energy that had been pumped into his system. His leg kicked out, tripping him up, Sam caught him and eased him into the passenger seat while she rummaged around the forst aid kit for more bandages. "Keep still Red."

"Need to see B." Jason slurred, gripping the armrests he tried to pull himself up again. Everything hurt, but he'd had worse, he'd gotten up and walked with worse, and he had to do it again. It was Tucker who pushed him down this time, Jason tried to glare at the other boy, but the geek just chuckled.

"If you can't get past me, you can't get outside." He went back to tinkering with the console, not sparing another glance at Jason.

Before he could try again, a trail of red energy streaked across the sky. The Dark Knight paused for a second in going after it, fixing whited out eyes on the boy. A shield sprung up around the speeder, effectively trapping Jason inside.

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A canister of gas made from ectoranium shaved into microscopic particles was his first course of action, followed by a heavy gauntleted fist to the face that tossed the ghost clear across the room. Batman followed, determined to not drag the fight out for even a second longer than he had to.

The shorter man was pulled up by his cape and Batman's fist crashed into his face three times in quick succession. The force of each blow would have been enough to break his knuckles without the ectoranium gauntlets covering his hands. An explosion of energy erupted from the ghost, loosening Batman's hold on his target and sending his skidding across the rubble strewn floor.

He was on his feet again in time to block a swing from not one, but two glowing fists. He ducked and spun around, his kick knocking one duplicate meters away before he grabbed the others head and bashed it against the armored cowl on his own. The fiery crown on the ghost's head cracked, the flames shrinking while he stumbled back, a cry of rage on his lips.

The ghost sent out a ray of energy, striking Batman's chest with enough force to dent the armor and knock him off his feet.

"Whoever you are, you'll come to deeply regret that." The ghost hovered a foot off the ground, his tensed shoulders and twitching fingers giving away the shock the rest of him was trying to hide. He slpit himself, surrounding the other man with a dozen duplicates. "For the last few seconds of your life." They spoke at once, and energy rays came at Batman from all sides.

"Not again Vlad!" There was a shout and the white haired boy was in front of him, a green shield intercepted the attack, but shattered on impact, launching the boy back.

"Get down!"Gauntleted hands caught the back of the boy's jumpsuit and pulled him close while Batman curled around him, shielding them both with his ectoranium coated cape. The second the barrage stopped, he threw a hand full of batarangs at the ghost. The suit could handle high temperatures, but it wasn't really build for comfort, and Batman clicked in the filtration as soon as the energy let up.

Vlad tried to block with his own cape, but the sharp blades sliced through the fabric, leaving deep gashes on his arms. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart." The ghost moved to attack again, but was intercepted by a girl with a ray gun. She was some distance away, firing at the ghost with a ray gun. It wasn't doing much damage, but she had the man's attention.

"Only one getting torn apart today is you!" She circled him on her hover board.

Electricity crackled at the sharp tips of Batman's fingers.

The boy's green eyes widened and he scrambled back. "Please be on our side." He half whispered.

"Stay out of this." Batman replied, taking advantage of the distraction the girl was providing, he activated his rocket boots, shooting at the ghost like a missile. A second later there was a current strong enough to give Superman pause running though the ghosts body. He screamed and kicked at Batman with enough force to dent the armor and knock the Batman back, but the hero didn't stop. Fists slammed into the ghosts jaw, kicks powerful enough to cave in the chests of normal humans crashed into his torso.

The boy and armored girl flitted around, providing shielding, and cover fire. He turned to his Robin, told himself it was just a quick to make sure nothing new had crept up, next he knew he was crashing to the ground, a few more dents in his suit and his head ringing.

The ghost held him down, raining down blow after blow on the downed man. Each hit was powerful enough to leave him seeing stars, bouncing his head of the hard ground. One particularly powerful hit cracked one of the lenses covering his eyes. The shield appeared between them again, and again it shattered on impact, but it slowed the punch enough that Batman could flip the ghost underneath him and wrap his hands around his glowing neck.

There wasn't enough charge for another shock, but the time holding his opponent still was enough for him to scan for a potential power source. A beep sounded in his ear just as the ghost bucked, throwing Batman off him and releasing a torrent of energy.

"Punching people in the face isn't the way you make new friends." The boy said, ducking away from the older ghost while still keeping up his barrage.

"My dear boy." Vlad was in front of the teen before he had a chance to react. "You assume I have time for such trivialities."

"Yeah well, they come in handy." The girl crashed into the ghost, crushing her hover-board in the process. She grabbed hold of Vlad's cape to keep from falling, he brutal kick to her face and she lost her grip, falling to the ground with a scream. Before the boy could duck around the man to catch her, he found himself on the receiving end of an energy ray strong enough to burn away the fabric at his chest, leaving an almost perfect circle of singed flesh.

Batman caught both children, paying no mind to the shock on their faces when he set them down.  
"You've done your part." He said, positioning himself between them and their attacker. "Get somewhere safe and stay there."

He tossed a single batarang at the ghost. It tapped against the ghost's fiery crown ,one controlled explosion later and already the already fractured accessory fell to the ground in pieces while the loud BANG forced the ghost to cover his ears. Blood red eyes locked onto the remnants of the powerful artifact.

"You!" Vlad screamed. Even though he was prepared for it, the ghost was still able to sweep Batman off the ground, and slam the larger man into the wall. Hands closed around his throat and electricity was shot through Batman's system. His suit redirected most of the current through its circuits, but it could only take so much. The capacitors blew and Batman had to take the full brunt of the electrical attack.

He screamed, not so much because of the pain, as what that pain meant. The ghost was greatly depowered now, but he'd been at full strength when he'd done the same thing to Robin. Batman pulled his fist back and struck the ghost in his throat, then grabbed his arm before he was knocked out of reach.

"You did that to my son!" A sharp, satisfying CRACK later and he had the ghost crying out again. He pulled the ring off the broken finger and tucked it into his utility belt before the ghost was done choking on his own spit.

The armor was useless now, and served no purpose other than to slow him down, so he hit the manual catches, letting the fried metal drop to the ground around him. He flexed his sore muscles, now standing in a batsuit with only slight modifications.

The ghost breathed in quick, deep huffs, a smirk curving it's way onto his mouth when he saw Batman standing in comparatively less threatening attire.

"Your son?" He chuckled, an edge of madness to his voice. "Isn't that priceless, I'll be sure to tell that vulgar brat how you screamed when I'm tearing him apart over your corpse." He struck out with his undamaged hand, Batman caught it easily and used the momentum to deliver a punch of his own strong enough to break the ghost's nose.

"You'll be lucky if you ever move again." Batman growled out. He let his fists fly, beating the man into the ground with the same ferocity normally reserved for the Joker. A man who'd tried to take his boy away deserved no less. It took a few minutes for the ghost to realize how outmatched he was without his power-ups, and predictable he tried to flee.

That wasn't going to happen until he was sure the ghost was paid back every bit of the suffering he'd inflicted on the boy. His grappling hook shot out, wrapping around the ghost's ankles, one sharp tug later and the ghost was back at his feet.

The man cried out, but didn't beg, or plea for him to stop. In anyone else Batman would have respected that, but he could see nothing deserving of that respect in this man. As he pulled the man's limp form off the ground and slammed him into a crumbled wall, his eyes caught the trail of smoke drifting up from the broken ship off to the side. It wasn't the time for this, not when his boy was so close.

"You'll never lay a finger on him again." Batman growled out slamming the man into the wall again, not averting his eyes when another crack against the wall triggered a ring on light around the ghost, and a human man stood in his place. "Or next time, you'll be in traction for a year, do I make myself clear?"

The man coughed weakly, a stream of blood dribbling down his chin. "Crystal."

One last slam for good measure, and he let the man drop to the ground, barely conscious, he bound the man tightly to a broken pillar and left him there. The speeder was in sight, across the ruins of what had recently been a great keep, and Batman wasted no time in making his way towards it.

Only now did Batman take note of what his son was wearing, a black and white mockery of his robin uniform, twisted into something resembling a joker. He was near the opening of the ship, his red eyes watching fearfully as Batman approached. The other teens, who were standing all around him must have picked up on that fear themselves, because they turned to face him, all four putting themselves between him, and the boy.

The green-eyed boy, stood just a step ahead of the others, looking dead on his feet, still he blocked the way, directing a fierce glare Batman's way. The man stopped a step away, close enough now that he could reach out and touch his Robin if the others weren't in the way. He moved in a little closer, but flinched back when Robin's fists rose just a little, preparing as always for some kind of conflict.

That was unusual, with a pang in his chest, Batman, Bruce realized that it was even expected. What was completely unexpected was the way Jason recoiled after a look at his mentors hurt face. Jason was the one to reach, out, but his wounded leg gave out after only one step and he crumpled to the ground. Bruce reached out to help him, but the green-eyed boy put himself more firmly between them.

"Back off creep, I don't care if you can beat Vlad, you're not getting near my friend." His eyes glowed warningly, and the others stood a little more ready for a battle, two of them pulling Jason to his feet.

"S'okay Danny." Jason said, one lowering his friends fist. "This is…" He looked at Bruce, his face so much more vulnerable that Bruce had seen in years before he turned his eyes to the ground. "He's my… my…"

"I'm his father." Bruce said, and like a cord had been cut, every muscle in Jason's body sagged and he toppled forward.

Bruce caught the boy, wrapping his arms around his son's shuddering body and holding him to his chest as tightly as he could without aggravating his injuries. He cradled the boy, more glad than he'd ever been in his life for the solid weight in his arms, even if it was both lighter and colder the it should have been.

"Hey Boss." Jason said, only a slight crack in his voice marring his usual confidence. "Wanna see a cool trick?" Without waiting for an answer the boy raised one hand, feather-light he brushed his fingers over the arm holding, then with one last, uncertain look, the hand phased right through Bruce's arm.

The man flinched at the unfamiliar, icy sensation then with a sigh, he held his son closer, pressing the boy's face into his chest and running his hand through the boy's snowy hair, knocking off his hat in the process. "You'll give Agent A an aneurism if you think about using that to steal extra cookies." It didn't matter, Jason was still his boy.

Jason chuckled into Bruce's chest, the sound shaking his whole body for just a moment, before he broke into tears, near silent sobs wracking his body. "I'm so sorry." The said between sobs. "I'm so sorry, I didn't listen and, and." Here his cries grew louder and he gripped the bat symbol at Bruce's chest. "Oh, god Bruce I shot Dick. He tried to help me and I shot him!"

"No names in the field." Bruce tucked the boy's head under his chin, hoping his actions would convey what his words wouldn't, he doubted Jason would appreciate being overly coddled in front of his friends. "Let's go and get your brother, Jaylad."

When they left, Bruce stepped over the bell-topped hat on at his feet, and though he'd never realize the significance of it, he'd never see that hat again.

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It was really late by the time they got back to the hospital. Red's Dad somehow got into Richard's room with the boy in his arms, and not a single person saw them.

Danny and his friends were in only seconds later, and Richard was already propped up on his pillows, grinning tiredly at his guests. "I had a feeling you'd all be here soon."

"Is your family psychic?"Tucker asked, a little more skittish of the hospital now that things had calmed down.

"Nah, but I've got a feeling yours might be." Richard, pointed at a corner, and Danny nearly phased out of his own skin when he saw who it was.

"Jazz, how, what are you doing here?" Danny asked, half expecting her to be some shape-shifting ghost.

"Later Little Brother." Jazz came up behind him and rested both hands on his shoulders. "Look what you did."

His Dad had set Red on the bed next to Richard, and the boy was curled against the man's side, one of his brother's arms holding him close.

"You're such an idiot." Red drew in a long, shuddering breath. "This is what you get for going easy on me."

Richard chuckled. "I missed you Little Wing." He looked up at their Dad with a goofy grin. "How 'bout a guy big guy?" The man grunted and Richard pouted. "No? A well done then, maybe a little smile, a…"

He was silenced when their Dad's arms wrapped around both brothers, pulling them into a tight embrace. "Good job." He smiled, and the color drained from Richards face. "But maybe don't get shot next time." He rested a hand in each of their heads. "And no more guns."

Next to Danny, Sam whispered a triumphant. "Yes!"

"I don't know B." Richard said, his cheeks now flushed a deep red while his arms tightened around his little brother and his grin returned. "Kids got good horrible aim, clean exit wound and all."

"No." Their Dad, growled, but his lips twitched in what could have been a smile.

"I don't wanna know how they can joke about getting shot." Danny said, shooting his sister an amused look.

"I'm so proud of you Danny." Jazz hugged him.

"I just got my head bashed into a wall." Danny meant it as a joke, but without all of the adrenaline he was starting to feel that wall again.

"You didn't give up on your friend." She gently ruffled his hair. "And you reunited him with his family." She waved a hand at the trio. "That wouldn't have happened without you."

"Aw, so you're the big hero now, huh?" Sam asked starring Danny down with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah man, we charged in to save the day too." Tucker crossed his arms.

Danny sighed at his friends before looking up at the family huddled together at the bed. "Yeah, were all heroes this time." And Danny had never felt more like a hero than he did right then, even if it was mixed with the sudden awkwardness of being so close to an emotional reunion. "I think we should give them some privacy."

"Why? Not like Red can complain in his sleep." Sam jerked a thumb at where Red was now sleeping soundly next to his brother. "Anyone got a camera?"

"Always." Tucker fished around his pocket for his PDA.

Danny didn't get the chance to tell them off. One second, he was looking at his friends, and the next there was a shadow cutting into his vision. Soulless white eyes were staring him down, pinning him in place and very nearly stopping his heart.

A short cry escaped the hero's mouth and before he could stop himself, he was babbling. "Hey there Mister Red's Dad Sir, can I call you Sir? Anyway, we were just kidding around, we wouldn't…"

He wasn't sure what he wouldn't do, because the man held out a hand, cutting off Danny's train of thought. The hand hung there for a minute before a nudge from Jazz prompted the halfa to accept it. A smile wormed it's way onto his face, while he shook the man's hand as firmly as he could, the feeling that he's really accomplished something filling his chest.

The man shook the hands of Sam, Tucker, Valery and Jazz too, but his eyes were on Danny when he spoke. "You found my son and took care of him when I couldn't. Thank you."

"How do you know it was me?" Danny asked.

"He's Batman." Richard chirped, snuggling deeper into his pillows.

Batman? He shot a sharp glare at his son and turned back to Danny. "You should all get some rest, I expect a full tomorrow morning."

"B." Dick groaned, and Danny would have sworn Red huffed if he wasn't so sure the boy was sleeping.

"Yes Sir." Danny's smile morphed into a full on grin as he left the hospital. At least there was someone with a weirder family than he had, and that weird family was together now, that lost ghost kid wasn't alone anymore. They were all… two blocks from the hospital and Danny stumbled.

His hand drifted to the clotting blood at the side of his head. That had hurt, it had hurt a lot, and it hit him for the first time since they'd broken Freakshow's hold on his friend that he himself had almost died. He'd almost died and he'd been ready for it, without ever saying goodbye to his family, or telling them anything. They would have never known what happened to him.

"What is it, are you okay Danny?" Jazz asked, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

He pulled her into a hug, squeezing as tightly as his tired arms could manage. "I love you, Jazz." He said, and pulled away before going ghost. "I have to see Mom and Dad!" He knew his friends were okay, and they knew he was okay, but right then, he just really wanted to see his folks.

He went intangible and made a straight line, right for home. The ghost shield was thankfully down, and he flew right into his sleeping folks' room, dropping onto their bed in human form.

"Ghost!" His Dad shot up first and found with the full weight of his teenage son crashing into his midsection. "Danno, what's going on?

"Danny, Baby what's wrong?" His mother asked when his only response was to burst into tears.

He was mortified, he hadn't done something, like this since he was a little kid, but his Mom's arms joined his Dad's wrapped around his shoulders and he couldn't bring himself to pull away.

"Nothing's wrong." He sniffed, worming his way between them and basking in the feeling of warmth and safety that came with being close to them. "I just really missed you."

His parents exchanged a worried look over his head.

"You know you can tell us anything Sweety?" His Mom ran a hand through his hair, her fingers catching on the dried blood, it was dark, and he told himself the wound would be healed by morning.

"I know." He sniffed loudly. And he did know, they were his family, and they would accept him just as easily as Red's family accepted his powers and ghostly body. One day soon he'd tell them, when he was ready to deal with all the worrying and coddling that would come with it. Until then, he'd was just happy to be squeezed between them safe at home where he could almost believe the past few days had been just another nightmare that they could protect him from.

Jazz got home later that night just as the sun was rising, and walked in on the sight of her little brother snoozing soundly between their parents like Dad didn't snore loud enough to bring down the house and Mom didn't hug like an octopus in her sleep.

Elsewhere, Jason found himself with a similar problem, and he slept just as soundly.


	38. Chapter 38

Things end, that's a sad fact of life that nobody ever really forgets, that life won't ever let them forget. There is nothing that lasts forever, and anything that did will never have any real meaning. We treasure the things we love because we know we won't have them forever.

'So wait, you're leaving?'

'Yeah.'

'I guess you couldn't stay under my bed forever. When?'

'Soon.'

'Where are you from anyway?'

…

'Red?'

'I gotta go.'

Beep. Beep. Beep.

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Heavy clouds hung in the skies of Amity Park. Weather like that was normally enough to keep Danny in doors, even more so this late at night. Darkness and gloomy weather was Sam's thing, but as he floated through a clouds, bright sparks of electricity crackling all around him, he thought that maybe there was something to her claims that this kind of weather was soothing.

Or, at least watching the light show was.

The young hero sighed and ducked below the clouds, his sleeping home once again in sight. There were very few windows lit up, leaving it to street lights to keep the city illuminated. From up high, it looked like someone had laid out trails of golden Christmas lights.

He touched down on a rooftop littered with abandoned construction equipment and changed to him human form. The little communicator he kept with him all the time now read 02:17, he put it back in his pocket and scanned the area again. After asking him there so late at night the least they could have done was show up on time. With a sigh he made his way to the rusty door, hopefully they hadn't forgotten and gone to…

"You're late."

Danny didn't scream, ha gasped loudly and spun around to assess the threat, heroes didn't scream.

"It's not easy sneaking past my parents this late." He said it maybe a little faster than he'd meant to when he caught sight of the man standing before him. Even without the robotic suit he was about as much sunshine and rainbows as Red was a cuddle monster, of course it would help if he wasn't half hidden in the shadows of that rusty pile of metal.

"You circled the building seven times before landing." The man said, his face was unreadable, but Danny thought he caught trace of some kind of emotion, he just couldn't place it.

"Where're Richard and Red, er Robin?" It was easier to ask than to come up with a response.

"Richard is keeping him busy." He detached himself from the shadows, his expression softening to something that might have been human. "How much did he tell you?"

"Just to come here. Wait." Danny held up his hands. "Does Red even know about this? Why do you need to keep him busy? Where is he?" The huge man blocked Danny's path to the door.

"Stop." Something about the man's voice made Danny believe he just had to obey. "We were going to give him the chance to tell you himself, but the situation has changed. We have to leave much sooner than we thought"

"Does this have something to do with why he won't tell any of us where he's going?" Danny asked.

"Something to do with it, yes." Red's father said. "Do you know how he ended up in the Ghost Zone, why it took us so long to find him?"

"No." Danny said, thinking of the way Red had been when they'd fist met, his twitchiness, and how easy it had been to provoke him into a fight. "But I think it was pretty bad."

"He was caught in an explosion. The bomb was ectoranium based." The man said. "It was fortunate he was pulled into the Ghost Zone before he was hit with the shrapnel, or he wouldn't have survived. Still, the amount of radiation he was exposed to on top of his open wounds…"

"Where are you going with this?" Danny asked, feeling the chill of the night air now more than he had since winter, he really didn't want to hear about the details of what had happened to his friend in that clinical tone. "What does it have to do with him going home?"

"In laymen's terms, his wounds were infected." The man said, a mild edge to his voice was at least an emotion. "And while the virus he contracted is very likely the only reason he's alive, we can't take him home the way he is now."

"What?" Danny's jaw dropped and he gaped at the man. "What do you mean he can't go home?" The unease he felt around the man didn't go away exactly, but it was melted down into almost nothing with the anger that had sparked up in his chest. "It's not his fault that happened to him, and I don't know if he's the same as he was before, but that doesn't make him a bad person, and you can't just not want him anymore because he's got some weird ghost virus, he's still…"

There was the heavy weight of a hand on his shoulder, and the rest of his tangent was cut off.

"He's still my son." The man said. "And I while I'm glad he's managed to find a friends that's so protective of him, I would like the chance to finish explaining the situation." Danny gave a shaky nod and got a firm one in return. "As I was saying. He's contracted a virus, while your concerns of him being rejected due to his abilities and… cosmetic changes are unfounded, a virus is never a good thing and we've received some intell from Miss Grey that leads us to believe that leaving would lead to other symptoms manifesting."

"So he'd get sick?" Danny asked.

"The virus uses it's host as a living battery of sorts, to gather ectoplasmic energy so it can feed of the access. When he's drained of that energy it'll feed off whatever else it can find. Richard tells me he was sick for a few days after the first time his energy was drained."

"Yeah, I remember that, he missed the last week of school." Danny said. "But why does that mean he can't go home?"

"After that he absorbed enough of this worlds atmospheric ectoplasmic energy that it never got serious, out world doesn't have that atmospheric energy. Do you understand?"

"There isn't any…" It took a minute for what the man had said to really click in Danny's mind. "You're from another world, but you're not ghosts, how can you be from… and how did you get here? Who are you people? Why didn't he tell me?"

"He doesn't know about the virus, and it was only recently that he learned the rest of it, as I told you, we were hoping he'd have the chance to tell you himself, but there's no time for that now. There's a situation that needs to be dealt with, and until we've found a solution to this problem Robin cannot leave this world."

"So are you going to leave him here and come back for him later?" Danny asked, already trying to figure out how Red would react to something like that. Being alone again, literally having no family in the world.

"If travel between our worlds were that simple we wouldn't have this problem to begin with, it will be years before we'd be able to bring him back. I called you here because you have the most experience dealing with Vladimir Masters' method of operation."

"How does Vlad tie into this?" Danny asked instead of focusing on how the word 'years' was echoing in his mind. "You heard about this from Valery, you know she doesn't have the best track record, right?"

"So you don't trust her either." The man raised a curled finger to his chin, a calculating look in his eyes, he was quiet for a moment before he snapped back to attention. "Still we can't disregard the information. According to Grey, Masters collected data on Robin when he had the two of you in his labs. With that data we think we can find a way to stabilize his condition."

"You want me to help you?" Danny asked.

"I want your opinion, Nightwing and I can extract the data either way, we'd just prefer to know beforehand whether we're walking into a trap." The man folded his arms.

"Fine, what do you want to know?" Danny asked.

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.

.

Two nights later and Danny was crouched invisibly in some bushes near the wall surrounding Vlad's home in Wisconsin while Richard tapped away at a miniature computer on his wrist that had been hooked up to a camera at the edge of the wall. Batman was off by some trees in a lower tech version of the suit he'd busted in his fight with Vlad, the man was blending into the shadows so well he was almost as invisible as Danny.

If he'd wondered before what kind of place Red must have come from, now he was almost sure he didn't want to know. It would suck to find out he was friends with a psycho assassin. Didn't assassins kill people who found out there secrets. A shiver went up his spine and he tried to shift in such a way that he could watch both the man and Richard.

If they were going to do it, where would be a better place than the home of someone they knew hated him. Why else would they ask how much Red had told him. 'I should have said nothing.'

Before his mind could finish forming the thought there was a muted beep and Richard turned to them with a grin and a thumbs up. Batman nodded and waved his hand for them to proceed, leading the way over the still high wall.

"Hey B." Richard whispered when they landed silently on the other side. "When this is done, lets order something really unhealthy to celebrate. I could go for something real greasy, what do say kid?" He looked over his shoulder at almost the exact place Danny was hovering.

Batman gave a noncommittal grunt and they kept moving towards the huge house. "Come on, lets live it up while Agent A is literally a universe away and can never find out."

"Alfred always finds out." Batman said coming to a stop besides another panel.

Richard nodded seriously before his smirk returned. "Wanna do it anyway?" He pried the panel up and hooked up his computer.

It took Batman a second to answer. "What do you have in mind?"

"I'm sure the kid knows some place good, hey Danny?"

"Yeah sure, if I'm still alive after this." Danny whispered while he looked over Richards shoulder. Tucker would have killed for a gadget like that.

"Course you'll be alive." Richard said. "We know what we're doing, right B?"

"Focus Nightwing, now's not the time." Batman growled softly. Richard muttered something under his breath, but said nothing.

Danny had to admit, Nightwing was a pretty cool codename, Batman sounded pretty creepy though, but judging by the way the man acted, that was probably the point. When he was done typing, Nightwing carefully fitted the panel back into place and flipped through some pictures on his screen. He held the device to his father and they communicated some plan with pointing and grunts.

"Phantom come over here." Nightwing said after a few minutes, the boy made himself visible and flew over to look at the screen. "This is the floor plan of the lowest level." His finger traced a line through the hallways. "We're going in this way, and getting the pulling the files from this closed server." He tapped a box near the corner. "Stay close, but invisible, and keep an eye out, okay?" Richard said.

"Okay." Danny faded out of sight and followed after them as they started moving again. It was pretty cool having someone that wasn't his enemy calling him Phantom as well. Batman said it was protocol, never use names in the field, even when you're surrounded allies, you never know who could be listening. The man hadn't even told Danny his actual name to begin with.

Batman held out a hand and twisted his fingers in the sign for 'P' before pointing around the corner. Danny nodded, even though he knew they couldn't see him, and flew ahead to check. His ghost sense didn't go off, and he didn't see anything out of place, so he flew back and rested a hand on Richards arm to show he was back. The younger man signed an okay and they moved on again.

Aside from the very first time he'd been there for the college reunion, this was the longest he's ever been at Vlad's mansion without running into trouble. Every so often Batman stopped them and Richard deactivated some security system. It didn't take very long for them to reach the lab. Batman attached something to the wall a the lights flickered before sputtering out.

Danny waited by the door while Richard went on ahead, both men had some kind of night vision in their masks, and while he stood in the complete darkness, Danny wished that there was a ghost power that did the same. Danny's ghost sense went off and he tapped Batman's shoulder three times. There was a click and Batman was gone from his side.

The Fenton thermos wasn't a very loud piece of equipment, but in the near silence in was easily the loudest thing in the room. Seconds later Batman was back by the door.

Minutes later they were leaving the empty mansion as quietly as they'd come in, there mission a complete success. Danny got one last look at the building before it faded out of sight. That was the last way he'd expected sneaking into Plasmius' home to go. Okay sure, the man probably hadn't been home, and even if he was he's still be pretty laid up after that fight in the Ghost Zone, but still he'd been expecting at least a little action, and mentioned as much to Richard once they were back in his apartment.

"A few more year of experience and you'll be wishing all of your missions ended that way." Richard laughed.

"We still have to decode the data." Batman made a beeline for the couch where Red was sleeping soundly, swaddled in blankets.

"It's six-thirty now." Richard said. "How many of your friends are up, kid?" Richard asked.

"I told them we were breaking into Vlad's house, I don't think they slept." Danny said. "Sam and Tucker are probably waiting for me to call them for backup."

"Great, well you call them and I'll call Valery, she'd been bugging Red for hours about leaving the house." Richard looked pointedly at Batman while he spoke.

"She wanted to meet with him alone." The man said.

"And you're not letting your precious little baby out on his own." Richard rolled his eyes as he dialed a number.

"Never again." Batman said softly, brushing a hand through Red's messy curls and tucking him in more tightly.

Richards sad smile was gone almost before Danny had a chance to see it, replaced by a confident smile. He dialed another number and walked off.

Again, Danny felt that awkwardness than came with being around a family you didn't really know. He yawned and got his communicator to call up Sam, and Tucker.

.

.

.

The Nasty Burger wasn't open that early, so they went to a twenty-four hour diner nearer Danny's house that his folks took them to when no one wanted to cook. It was small, but the food was okay. It took some effort to wake Red up, something that made Batman glare at Richard and the younger man shrug guiltily while looking at an empty mug that had once contained cocoa.

Mentioning food was the only thing that really got the boy to drag himself up of the couch and get dressed, as soon as the car was moving hid head thunked against the window and he was sleeping again.

"What did you do to him?" Danny asked, poking his friend, as long as he's known him, Danny had never seen Red sleep that deeply before.

Batman glared at Richard again.

"Stop that!" The younger man groaned. "He wouldn't go to sleep, Agent A does it to us all the time."

"What'd he do?" Red slurred, apparently awake enough to follow the conversation.

"You looked so tired Little Wing, what kind of brother would I be if I didn't try to help." Richard smiled nervously at the boy.

Red cracked his crimson eyes open just enough to glare at his brother before his tiredness won out and he shut them again. "Where'd ya go?"

"Just had to pick up some stuff and erase some stuff from a certain vampire's hard drive." Richard said.

"Vampire?" Red frowned and turned his eyes on Danny. "You lied to me."

"About what?" Danny shifted away from the other boy.

"Said there weren't any vampires." Red said into the upholstery.

"I said that?" Danny smirked at his friend. He felt kind of bad for him now that it was obvious his brother had drugged him with a little too much of something, but he could admit that Red needed the sleep, and it was kind of funny watching Red being so out of it. "Well you said you were a vengeful ghost."

"Am vengeful, Ima shave his head." Red said.

"Come on, B was the one who told me to make it happen, why don't you shave his head?" Richard pouted.

"Shave Batman's head?" Red looked at Richard like he'd suggested eating water.

"You attacked Batman with a tire iron."

"Why'd you attack your old man with a tire iron?" Danny asked, the only thing keeping him from being concerned was the smirk on said father's face.

"Because he wasn't my old man back then." Red frowned, then his face scrunched up and he hiccupped. "He's my old man."

"Aw, I thought you said you were done crying." Richard cooed. "You want a hug?"

Red said, "Shut up." The same time Batman said, "Nightwing." And the older man reached over to ruffle his son's hair.

" 'm fine." Red mumbled and sat himself up. "Never taking food from you again." He glared at his brother, this time keeping it up as they pulled up Tucker's driveway.

"You're both adopted." Danny said, surprising himself with the realization, then shrinking into his seat when he had all their eyes on him.

"Yup." Red said, snapping the tension with one word. "B here is a regular Daddy Warbucks." He leaned against the back of batman's chair.

"Who's watching Annie?" Tucker asked climbing into the car, he caught sight of Red and frowned. "Whoa man, what hit you?"

"That ass." Red pointed at his brother. "Dosed me with sleep meds."

"Little Wing!" Richard whined, his smile betraying just how sorry he was. "You're friends are going to think I'm evil."

"You are!" Red shot back. "And stop calling me that, You've officially lost Little Wing privileges."

"No!" Richard clutched his chest dramatically. "Anything but Little Wing privileges, I traveled universes for Little Wing privileges." He flung an arm over his eyes and peered at the backseat. "Aw come on. No one's backing me up here?"

"Nope." All three of them said.

"You've totally lost Little Wing privileges, shame on you." Tucker folded him arms.

"Red's friends." Danny gestured between him and Tucker. "Red's side."

Danny didn't miss the way Red brightened up at that, but it was quickly covered up when Richard unbuckled and threw himself over his seat to grab his brother and start pulling him to the front seat.

"Wing! what the & #$!", Red yelled and held onto the back of his seat.

"I still think you need a hug." Richard laughed. "Come to big brother baby bird!" He kept hold of Red with one and used the other to tickle the boy when he wouldn't let go.

"Go to hell!" Red tried to kick his brother, but the man was able to twist away from any attempts at retaliation. "Help me!" Red looked at his friends, laughter forcing itself out of his throat.

A few minutes later they'd managed to pull Richard to the back seat, but the man only held on tighter to Red, clutching the cursing boy to his chest and tickling him while Danny and Tucker tried in vain to free their friend.

Sam was directed to sit in the front seat Richard had vacated by a straight faced Batman.

"Buckle in." The man said, his voice somehow audible over the battle field in the back seat.

"Really guys?" Sam rolled her eyes and turned on the radio to drown them out.

Valery stayed close by the diner, so she was waiting for them when they pulled up to the building. The ghost hunter took one look at their disheveled appearance when they climbed out of the car and frowned bemusedly at Red, still being held tightly by Richard.

"Val," Red said, elbowing his brother sharply and leaping out of the car.

"Don't." Sam said, walking past Justas Valery opened her mouth to do just that.

"Whatever." Valery said, sticking close to Red while they all went inside.

.

.

.

After they ate, Richard and Batman left them, pulling Danny aside and telling him to keep Red busy for a few hours.

"Bye bye Little Wing, play nice and don't get into any fights till we get back." Richard ruffled Red's hair, having to jump away from the boy's retaliatory punch while Batman gave Danny a pointed look and gestured at Valery.

"Nightwing." The man ordered and Richard gave ducked another swing to give Red a quick hug before dancing out of reach to stand by the older man.

Richard sighed and straightened his shirt. "I think I'm going to love being a big brother." He said as they walked off.

"So he's Nightwing, and Daddy Warbucks is Batman." Tucker smirked at the irate Red. "Why're you stuck with a dumb code name like Little Wing?"

"That's just a dumb nickname he only used once before all of this." Red groused, pulling up his newer green hoody for the first time in weeks. "I can't believe I used to think he was cool."

"He is pretty cool though." Sam said, her eyes glued to the retreating men.

"No, he's a tool." Red said. "Completely, hundred percent tool."

"You're not allowed to call your older siblings cool." Danny said. "Not even if they're literally the coolest people in the world. Right Red?"

"Nope, not even if they're the coolest people in the world." Red nodded seriously.

Since the arcade was one of the things Red had ducked out on back when he'd stopped hanging out with the rest of them, they went there as soon as it opened. Even on a Wednesday it was packed. They'd only gotten through a few games before Tucker found himself in front of the electric shock game again.

"Don't do it man." Danny said, peering over his friend's shoulder.

"You're just going to make a fool of yourself." Sam added.

"But it should be so easy, just hold on, and so many tickets." Tucker looked at the machine forlornly.

"I bet Red could do it." Valery said.

"Huh?" Red was playing wack-a-mole off to the side while sipping on a soda.

"This." Valery pulled him up to the machine and waved an arm at it.

Red studied the machine for a minute before looking back at them. "Really?"

"So you're too scared?" Tucker folded his arms. "I did it."

"Not scared." Red took another sip of his soda. "Just that I'm not crook, and playing this thing is kinda cheating, I mean it's nothing compared to…"

"Just do it." Sam cut him off.

"Okay, jeez. Hold this, and don't let Tucker drink it." He said, handing Sam his soda. He braced himself in front of the machine, his hands over the bars before he clamped down on them. His posture straightened, and his muscles tightened, but he didn't let go of the machine. They all watched the dial turn, upping the voltage while it spat out tickets. It made a loud PING and the dial went back to zero. Red let go and chuckled. "That felt friggin weird." He shook his arms and scooped up the tickets.

"I'm gonna try again." Tucker said, stepping past the other boy, it went about as well as it did the last time, leaving Tucker with one quarter less and no tickets to show for it.

They played a few first person shooters and racing games, the latter of which scored Tucker an easy win over Red. Danny almost though the he'd let Tucker win, but Red was as shocked by the outcome as the rest of them and even demanded a rematch, which he lost as well.

After a few hours they headed over to the food court for lunch.

"Great." Sam frowned as they sat down with their food. Danny followed her gaze across the court and caught sight of Paulina and Star.

Valery noticed too and groaned, tensing up when the other girls caught site of them and started moving closer. Red turned from where he and Tucker were debating sauces. A look passed between him and Valery before he moved to intercept them.

"Todd." Star smiled tilting her head. "I haven't seen you in a while, where have you been?"

Paulina frowned, but didn't interrupt her friend.

"Oh you know, around, would have stayed in today but my friends though I needed sun." He shrugged, putting an emphasis on the word 'friends'. "You know Valery right?"

"Oh, her?" Paulina scoffed. "We knew her before she started hanging out with those losers."

"Paulina!" Star hissed, then turned back to Red. "So, have you saved any pretty girls from ghosts lately?" She asked, twirling a strand of hair round her finger.

"Not yet, but it's still early."Red said that confident smirk on his face. "Hoping I can squeeze something in before I leave tonight."

Valery slammed down her soda, shocking everyone at the table before she marched, actually marched over to them.

"Red." She got a grip on one of his arms then she stilled, apparently having only thought her actions out so far.

"Valery." Star said pointedly. "It's rude to interrupt other people's conversations."

"You're not people." Valery shot back. "Don't act like you're not only nice to him so you can get at me. Just like Paulina used Danny to get at Sam."

"Please honey, you're not that special." Paulina said. "And neither is he. No offense Todd, but Star can do better."

"Paulina, you said you'd be nice." Star protested, her face flushed red with anger.

"Don't sweat it, not offended." Red said, his posture still relaxed. "I'm not much of ladies man, but." He snapped his fingers and his eyes got that dark sheen that came over them when he was angry. "I'd appreciate it if ya didn't say crap like that 'bout my friends, seeing as you only have one, that might actually help you in the long run y'know, when you're out of high school and no one cares how pretty you are." He held his arms up in a peacemaking gesture. "Just some advice, take it or leave it.." He turned away from them" You're not a horrible person Paulina, maybe act like it. Good ta seeya Star."

The girls left and Red sunk into his chair, the darkness leaving his features only a little when he took a sip of his soda. He must have felt the weight of their stares, because he looked up after a minute and shot them all a look somewhere between confusion and his lingering irritation. "What?"

Tucker was the one to break the silence. "You're leaving tonight?"

His anger visibly melted away. "Crap." One hand fisted tugged at his hair. "I didn't tell you."

"No, you didn't." Valery folded her arms and glared down at him. "We're you even going to?"

"I was just waiting…" He began.

"Until you were gone, what, so you could do it over the phone?" The girl pressed.

"No." He looked around the table.

Richard had wanted Red to tell them himself. With everything happening in such a short period of time, Danny had forgotten that he was the only one who knew. Still, the halfa didn't say anything, seeing as how Red had told him over the phone.

"Then when?" Sam asked, her voice much calmer than Valery's, but still carrying a little sting of hurt.

"Last night, but Wing wouldn't let me leave and he gave me those sleep meds." I swear I was gonna tell you." He stirred the ice round his soda with his straw, staring into the bubbly liquid. "There's just stuff B's gotta deal with back home."

"So soon though?" Sam asked. "Richard just got out of the hospital, he shouldn't be traveling so soon, right? Can't you just call ahead and…"

"My homes not a place you can call." Red said slowly."It's way outta range of, well everything."

"So you can't call?" Valery's fists were balled at her sides. "How far away is this place?"

Red curled in on himself under her glare, keeping his eyes trained on the slowly melting ice in his hands.

"Cut it out every one." Danny said, trying to inject the same tome Batman used into his own voice. "It's not like he can do anything about it."

"Daddy Warbucks says you gotta go, you gotta go." Tucker said. "Not like we can kidnap him and hide him in Sam's huge basemant."

"Or we could." Sam said, waving one hand.

"You kidding? Even we'd never find him." Danny said. "My parents' basement though…"

"We'll keep you in a thermos." Tucker said in a stage whisper, leaning close to Red and throwing an arm around his shoulders, pulling the other boy in close. "When the Fenton's get suspicions, we move you to my basement, and if all else fails…"

"Sam's huge basement." Danny finished.

"If they find out, I can pass you off as the world's biggest hamster." Sam said. "I'll take you for walks to the 'Skulk and Lurk' every weekend."

"So that creepy girl who wouldn't stop staring at me last time can eat me?" Red wrapped his arms around himself and gave off a very convincing shudder. "I'd rather be the Fenton's test subject."

"I think that position's open." Danny snapped his fingers, "I'll give my parents a call, see if I can schedule an interview."

"How can you all joke about this?!" Valery snapped.

"Who's joking?" The other four responded simultaneously before breaking into chuckles.

"It's not funny." She glared at them and stormed off.

"If looks could kill…" Tucker shook his head.

"Val." Red got up and hurried after her.

"Batman said to keep an eye on her." Danny leaped to his feet after them, followed by Sam and Tucker.

"Wait." Sam grabbed both boys' by their shirt and pulled them back. "Don't let them see us."

Valery was out of the mall before Red caught up to her.

"Val, what do you want me to do?" He grabbed her arm and she spun to face him.

"Don't go with them." She replied, raising her fists.

"I can't just never go back, it's my freaking home." He said.

"Never go back? You can never come back after you leave here?" Her arms dropped, shoulders slumping. "And you're still going?"

"From there I can figure something out, B tells me there's this new kid, super smart…"

"You can't do that from here?" She asked.

"You don't get it." He ran a hand through his hair, knocking off his hood. "I just wanna go home. I have a whole life that I can't just give up."

"What about your life here?" Her face scrunched up, water filling her eyes. "A few months ago you didn't even know the other one existed. Where were they when you thought you were all alone?"

"Building a transdimentional portal to come find me." Red shoved his hands in his pockets, keeping a steady gaze on Valery. "They spent almost a year looking for me, do you have any idea what that means for someone like me?"

"I they cared about you they give you more time to say goodbye." Valery stepped closer.

"There are bigger things going on than me and them." Red said. "I'm not selfish enough to ask them to risk it."

"You're scared they won't give it to you?" She asked.

"Nah." Red said, a small, sad smile on his face. "I'm scared they do." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug."I'm sorry I have ta leave ya here alone Val, I really, really wish I didn't." He said so soft Danny almost didn't hear it. "The closest I have to a friend back home is a pen pal." He chuckled ad looked over her shoulder at the exact place Danny was floating invisibly, then to the neat bushes Sam and Tucker were hiding behind. "Just don't make me say I love you guys, right."

Danny made that choking sound that heroes weren't supposed to make again and flew away to transform behind Sam and Tucker's hiding place.

"How do you all do that?" Danny huffed, stomping into view.

"Guessed you'd follow, just found the most likely location," He shrugged.

"What about us?" Sam asked.

"You guys are just bad at hiding." Red smirked and ducked Tuckers playful swing.

"Well sor-ry we can't all be ninjas like Batman, Nightwing and Red." Tucker rolled his eyes.

"Robin." Red said, and pulled his hood up again.

"Dude, we know that's your name." Tucker said.

"No, I kinda dodged the question earlier, you asked about my code name." For the first time, his smile was almost shy. "My code name's Robin. I'm Jason, Jason Todd." He held a hand to Danny. "Nice ta meetcha."

Danny started to shake his hand, but changed him mind and pulled his friend into a hug instead.

"Yeah, Valery got a hug." Tucker said dragging Sam along with him into the group hug. They stayed that way for a few minutes before Valery spoke up.

"So how long before we can make serial killer jokes?"

.

.

.

The wide open spaces of the Ghost Zone were just as creepy now as they were when Jason had first seen them. Back then, he hadn't been impressed, it had taken him a while to feel impressed by anything for, longer for him to feel anything that could be called positive.

Still, in all that time, maybe his whole life, he hadn't once felt the kind of soft sadness he felt standing there with his family, in maybe the last minutes he'd ever see the place again.

Maybe the last minutes he'd see any of his friends again.

The weight of the little pill bottle was heavy in his pocket. Those faintly shimmering pills were the only things allowing him to leave, artificial ectoplasm, Dick had said. Bruce was making the final adjustments on the machine that would take them back to Gotham while Jason stood with the only people he'd really know over the past year.

He was supposed to be saying his last goodbyes, but there wasn't anything he could think of that hadn't already been said. As they watched the men work, Jason realized that there was someone he hadn't said goodbye to yet, and he felt a pang of regret that he hadn't gotten the chance to see the Box Ghost one last time.

"Wonder what it'll be like traveling through that thing." Sam said.

"Nightwing says it hurts like a bi…"

"Language Robin." Bruce cut in.

"Got it Boss man." Jason said with a sloppy salute, the cheeky grin on his face saying otherwise.

"I cant wait to have one of Agent A's cookies again." Dick flipped on a screen.

"Or a plate." Jason said.

"Not before you've finished your supper Master Jason." Dick said in a British accent.

"Who's Agent A?" Danny groaned, rolling his eyes and poking Jason's shoulder. "Half the time you talk about him like he's some kind if evil over lord and the other half like he's your best friend in the world."

"He's both." Bruce said, powering on the machine.

"He's like my strict, but super cool grandfather." As sad as he was about leaving, Jason couldn't wait to see the old man again. Him and Babs, and the commissioner. He was pretty excited to meet the kid that had started hanging round the cave too. It was thoughts like that that softened his sadness, kept him from staying behind. As much as loved his new friends, he loved his old one's just as much, Everything has to end sometime, right…

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((FOUR YEARS LATER))

Electricity buzzed around the lab, bouncing from device to device for a reason only Tucker knew. The techno-whiz typed frantically at his key pad while the rest of team Phantom stood ready to face whatever threat emerged from the steadily growing vortex of red energy.

Valery had an ecto-cannon trained on the anomaly while Sam waited patiently, a small army of ghost poffs hovering near her. At Danny's side, Danielle practically bounced on the balls of her feet, itching for a fight as always.

Out of all of them, Danny was the most relaxed. He wasn't worried about what would come at them this time. Whatever it was, he knew his team would be able to handle it, the only thing that really bothered him about this new situation was the amount of damage that could be done to their shiny new headquarters.

The anomaly doubled in size and spat out something big and metal with a pop before collapsing in on itself and disappearing.

"It's a ship?" Danielle flew over and tapped the metal helm experimentally. There was a loud creak and she sped away, positioning herself just behind Danny.

The roof slid open with a hiss and the pilot pulled off his helmet, greeting them all with a smirk, familiar crimson eyes crinkling up as he waved.

"Long time no see Boss." He reached into the ship and pulled out a smaller person, wrapping his arm around the boy's shoulders. "This is my little brother, Red Robin."

Just because nothing lasts forever, doesn't mean you can never have something like it again."


End file.
